At Main Court, Wind Is Common Opponent

By Author: pangsiyan
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It was August 1997, shortly before the official opening of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the new center court at the United States Open, and the leading American players Pete Sampras and Jim Courier had just finished a practice session.
Sampras happily reported that the swirling winds that had been a bother in Louis Armstrong Stadium were not a problem in the new stadium.

What's not to like? Courier said that day of the stadium itself.

Thirteen years later — numerologists take note — swirling winds have been the talk of the tournament and remain a signature feature of Ashe Stadium, which is considered the most challenging environment of the four center courts in Grand Slam tennis.

The Australian Open has Rod Laver Arena; Wimbledon has Centre Court and the French Open has the Philippe Chatrier Court, named for a prominent former French tennis official.

I'm not an architect, so I don't understand the dynamics in play with the design, but I can tell you as a player that the wind in Ashe is the most inconsistent wind of the four major stadiums, said Courier, a commentator for CBS here.

That ...
... wind, stronger than usual this year in the aftermath of several storms, has had a major impact on the quality of play, with even veteran players struggling with their timing and service tosses. There were a total of 42 breaks of serve in the four women's quarterfinals, and not one of the eight players had more winners than unforced errors.

I would say it was the most difficult conditions I have ever played in, Dominika Cibulkova said after her straight-set defeat against Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday night.

Kaia Kanepi made 60 unforced errors and nine double faults in just two sets against Vera Zvonareva as the more experienced and versatile Zvonareva proved much more adept at altering her style to adjust to the gusts.

Kanepi, more or less on both ends, was trying to hit through it, said Mark Woodforde, the former Australian doubles star. Zvonareva, just the way she went about her business, was mixing things up just to work with the conditions. It was incredible to see some slice forehands out there from her.

Woodforde and his longtime doubles partner Todd Woodbridge played on all the world's major courts for more than a decade as the most successful team of their era.

My view is this one is the hardest one, Woodbridge said. I think it's probably because it's a bit bigger, with 24,000 seats, so the wind just gets in there and keeps circling around until it gets to court level.

With 23,763 seats, Ashe Stadium is the largest tennis-dedicated stadium in the world, far bigger than its three Grand Slam equivalents. When it was constructed, wind patterns were not on the agenda, said Jay Snyder, the Open's tournament director from 1994 to 2000.

We talked a lot about court orientations and where the sun is at this time of year and so forth, Snyder said. There wasn't discussion about wind that I can recall. I think it was the second year we were in there, and somebody said, ‘Hey, it's kind of windier in here than outside.' It's the way the stadium is. I'm not sure we can do much about it, because it's open.