Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
Everyone agrees that a change of scenery is often a good thing, and this week we're going through the most dramatic -- by far -- shift of paradigm tennis has to offer: the shift of surface from clay to grass. It's like somebody hits Reality's Remote and you don't just surf across the English Channel (now I know how it got the name!) but into a parallel universe.
One moment, it seems, you're on clay, purgatory-to-hell red (you can ask Andy Roddick all about that), at the end of an intense European swing that sometimes seems like it never ends. A moment later, you're on cool, refreshing, quiet green grass (fact check those qualities with the beaten French Open finalist, Roger Federer), embarking on a season that's eventful but unsatisfyingly short. You can get away without mowing your own lawn during what people euphemistically call the "grass-court" season, although you may get yelled at once or twice. No pain, no gain.
The best thing about this mutation is Wimbledon, that tournament that convinces everyone to shut their eyes for a moment and pretend that this is 1907, not 2007. That people are so willing and eager to do this probably tells you something about 2007, but that's neither here nor there. What counts most, for tennis fans, is that when the action shifts to grass, the whole cast of ATP characters changes. Going from clay to grass is like one of those changing-of-the-guard ceremonies that takes place in front of Buckingham Palace, or on Wimbledon's Centre Court, as one set of line-callers march off, to be replaced by a new crew in the same, silly, Roaring '20s costumes.
Just a moment ago, I went over to check the live scoring at the Web site at the major Wimbledon tune-up tournament, the Artois Championships. Can you believe that Milan Cilic took out Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the third round? Wait! What on earth are Cilic (currently No. 110 in the world) and Jo-Wilfried (No. 121) doing in the third round of a major Grand Slam tune-up? Trying to improve on their current, career-best rankings, that's what -- and taking advantage of the quickest and trickiest surface in tennis to do it.
I don't want to take anything away from Cilic or Tsonga (or any of the other Artois warriors, including gentle giant Ivo Karlovic, who blasted Marat Safin out of the tournament today). But the combination of the French Open and Wimbledon butting up against each other (Wimbledon begins just two weeks after Roland Garros ends), the unique properties of grass, and the fatigue most top players feel coming off the clay really gives journeymen a great opportunity to count coup. The guys aren't really playing grass-court tennis for these next few weeks: they're playing Wimbledon Roulette.
So what if their chips get wiped away by the time the second week of Wimbledon rolls around? The game is fun while it lasts.
