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Tennis legend Roger Federer has asked tournament directors to mix up the court speed, which he feels will generate more intense matches and upsets. The 20-time Grand Slam winner feels the courts are mostly slow and it helps the game of top players like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, putting lesser-talented players at a disadvantage.
Federer shared his thoughts during the Laver Cup, which he supervises. Team World won the 2025 Laver Cup on Sunday by beating Team Europe.
‘I feel like they return so easily nowadays’
During an interaction midway through the tournament. Federer pointed out that it has become easier to return serves now in modern-day tennis.
“I feel like they return so easily nowadays,” Federer said. “I don’t know if the conditions are a bit slower or if they are just better at it. Making returns was hard. Now, they just stand there. That’s why I sliced, just to float it in there and figure it out.”
Federer was also asked if he feels there’s a need to adjust court surfaces to allow a larger variety of games. The 44-year-old agreed and said that such a change would aid different styles of play.
“Yes, definitely. I just had this conversation this morning with Reilly Opelka. I told him it’s not okay, and I fault myself because I’m part of the decision-making process here [at the Laver Cup]. It can’t be that he’s serving on the outside, indoors against Casper Ruud, who actually can go back.
“He even has that option indoors to return that serve, which is arguably one of the best serves in the game right now. He returns it at hip height with a cross-court passing shot. It should be a little bit more difficult to be able to do that,” Federer said.
“I think that’s why we as tournament directors need to fix it. We need to have not only fast courts, but what we want to see is [Carlos] Alcaraz or [Jannik] Sinner figure it out on lightning fast and then have the same match on super slow and see how that matches up.
“That’s how the ranking points used to be, do you remember? Back in the day, only 12 tournaments counted so everybody would play on their favorite surface.
“They would sometimes meet and those were the best matches, when you had the attacker against the retriever, and now everybody plays similar. It’s because tournament directors have allowed it with the ball speed and court speed.
“Every week is basically the same. That’s why you can just go from winning the French Open and Wimbledon and the US Open just playing the same way.”
Federer added that tennis tournament bosses want slower courts, as it ensures a deeper run for Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
“I understand the safety net tournament directors see in making the surface slower. For the weaker player, he has to hit extra amazing shots to beat Sinner whereas if it’s quick, he can only maybe blast a few at the right time and he gets past,” he added.
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