Wimbledon finalists since 2003

[Jelenafan]

All this talk of tennis surfaces got me thinking, how much has Wimbledon actually changed as far finalist composition because of the "slower" conditions?
Lets look at the finalist in the last 20 years of the Big W:

2003 Mark Phillipoussis
2004 Andy Roddick
2005 Andy Roddick
2006 Rafael Nadal
2007 Rafael Nadal
2008 Roger Federer
2009 Andy Roddick
2010 Tomas Berdych
2011 Rafael Nadal
2012 Andy Murray
2013 Novak Djokovic
2014 Roger Federer
2015 Roger Federer
2016 Milos Raonic
2017 Marin Cilic
2018 Kevin Anderson
2019 Roger Federer
2020 DNP
2021 Matteo Berretini
2022 Nick Kyrgios

Looks to me everyone outside the Big 3 ( and Murray), the finalists possessed a big booming serve.
So to me W is still the most *exclusive* surface of all 4 Slams, for all the talk of homogenization....Again outside the big 4 I don't see a French Open finalist on this list. The reality is that the big 4 are/were very good on all surfaces and the rest of the players could occasionally rise to the occasion but it's a stretch to call any of the other finalists true all court players , IMO Wimbledon favors a certain type of player, as does the French Open for finalists. It's no accident to me also that neither Theim nor Wawrinka who reached the finals of the other Slams have not made a Wimbledon final.

 

[El Dude]

Nice investigation there, @Jelenafan . Here's the same list for Roland Garros:

2003 Martin Verkerk
2004 Guillermo Coria
2005 Mariano Puerta
2006 Roger Federer
2007 Roger Federer
2008 Roger Federer
2009 Robin Soderling
2010 Robin Soderling
2011 Roger Federer
2012 Novak Djokovic
2013 David Ferrer
2014 Novak Djokovic
2015 Novak Djokovic
2016 Andy Murray
2017 Stan Wawrinka
2018 Dominic Thiem
2019 Dominic Thiem
2020 Novak Djokovic
2021 Stefanos Tsitsipas
2022 Casper Ruud

Make of that what you will...

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

Wimbledon will move away from grass to a hard court slam long before the French Open will move away from clay. For better or worse (mostly better), the FO will to keep their roots for as long as possible. I mean, just look at how long it took for them to get a roof or get rid of the no 5th set tiebreaker rule. Not to mention, they're the only one that still isn't part of the ESPN homogenization. I used to get excited for Wimbledon (when it was on NBC) and the US Open (when it was on CBS). The FO is the only one I get excited for these days.

When Wimbledon goes to hard court (the wheels are already in motion for this, and I'll be shocked if it doesn't happen within 20 years), the FO on clay will be the unique surface.

 

[atttomole]

All this talk of tennis surfaces got me thinking, how much has Wimbledon actually changed as far finalist composition because of the "slower" conditions?
Lets look at the finalist in the last 20 years of the Big W:

2003 Mark Phillipoussis
2004 Andy Roddick
2005 Andy Roddick
2006 Rafael Nadal
2007 Rafael Nadal
2008 Roger Federer
2009 Andy Roddick
2010 Tomas Berdych
2011 Rafael Nadal
2012 Andy Murray
2013 Novak Djokovic
2014 Roger Federer
2015 Roger Federer
2016 Milos Raonic
2017 Marin Cilic
2018 Kevin Anderson
2019 Roger Federer
2020 DNP
2021 Matteo Berretini
2022 Nick Kyrgios

Looks to me everyone outside the Big 3 ( and Murray), the finalists possessed a big booming serve.
So to me W is still the most *exclusive* surface of all 4 Slams, for all the talk of homogenization....Again outside the big 4 I don't see a French Open finalist on this list. The reality is that the big 4 are/were very good on all surfaces and the rest of the players could occasionally rise to the occasion but it's a stretch to call any of the other finalists true all court players , IMO Wimbledon favors a certain type of player, as does the French Open for finalists. It's no accident to me also that neither Theim nor Wawrinka who reached the finals of the other Slams have not made a Wimbledon final.

it’s not just about Wimbledon!!

To be clear, when I was talking about the slowing down of surfaces, I wasn’t referring to Wimbledon alone. This has happened across the board. I agree that the big 4 were clearly better on all surfaces, but let’s be honest, for Nadal, the slowing down/changing of the grass surface did help him. The difference in court speed between the 1st and 2nd week is well known.


As I know, historically, Wimbledon and the US were significantly faster than others, but at some point in the last few years, the US Open had become even slower than the Australian Open.

The fact that Roger has done reasonably well at RG is just a reflection of his versatility. Djokovic has become even more complete than Roger, with his serve that has continued to improve, with the help of Ivanisevic.

 

[PhiEaglesfan712]

it’s not just about Wimbledon!!

To be clear, when I was talking about the slowing down of surfaces, I wasn’t referring to Wimbledon alone. This has happened across the board. I agree that the big 4 were clearly better on all surfaces, but let’s be honest, for Nadal, the slowing down/changing of the grass surface did help him. The difference in court speed between the 1st and 2nd week is well known.


As I know, historically, Wimbledon and the US were significantly faster than others, but at some point in the last few years, the US Open had become even slower than the Australian Open.

The fact that Roger has done reasonably well at RG is just a reflection of his versatility. Djokovic has become even more complete than Roger, with his serve that has continued to improve, with the help of Ivanisevic.

The US Open did become slow in the 2010s, but since the change to the Leykold surface in 2020, it's become faster again: https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tenn...-of-the-us-open-changes-with-the-new-surface/

(If only that change was made 2 years earlier, Serena would have won the 2018 and 2019 US Opens, for her 24th and 25th slams. Also, Roger probably would not have lost early in the 2018 and 2019 US Opens. Serena and Roger especially loved the fast courts.)