Just finished watching the great Wimbledon Men’s Singles final, where Goran Ivanisovic won with 20+ aces. The commentator mentions that “grass courts favor hard servers like Ivanisovic, because they’re so fast.”
I’ve heard this before, but it still puzzles me. By “fast” I presume they mean the ball bounces off the court with the least depreciation in velocity, which I figure would come from bouncing off a harder surface than a “slow” court. Same as how a superball bounces harder off concrete than a wood floor.
So why would grass, which is packed dirt with a cushion of tiny leafy blades, be “harder” and “faster” than clay or asphalt? Am I looking at the physics all wrong? Does grass have some sort of “bounce” effect from its softness? Does the precise squishiness or texture of the ball have something to do with it?
Any insight or good guesses appreciated.