Rafter: “get it fast, get it nasty”

Twenty years ago to the day, Pat Rafter won his first major title at the US Open.

The Aussie did so with his athletic, dashing brand of serve-and-volley tennis; appropriately, it was a volley he knocked off for a winner to defeat Greg Rusedski in that 1997 final.

Rarely do you see that style of play being executed by major-winning players today.

We all know the reasons; a proliferation of slower surfaces, heavier balls, equipment and technology advantageous to baseline play … the list goes on.

Tennismash asked Rafter if he felt a player could successfully employ his style and achieve Grand Slam success.

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One player at this year’s US Open, Mischa Zverev, served-and-volleyed his way to the fourth round, after doing the same during a quarterfinal run at this year’s Australian Open.

“I dunno,” Rafter answered. “Serve-volley has to be done from a young age; you can’t go to (Alexander) Zverev and say, go and serve volley. It doesn’t work that way. It has to be a part of your game. I know his brother’s a really good serve-volleyer.

“The problem with tennis is that they have the same-paced courts all around the world, just so the same group can be in the semifinals. Get it fast, get it nasty every now and then to create a different atmosphere for someone else to have a crack.

“That was the great thing about when we played; the French Open was for the claycourters, the grass was for the fast-court players. And that’s the way it went. And every now and then you’d see someone who’s great, like Andre (Agassi), do it on both, and Pete did really well on both surfaces – although he didn’t win a French. Lendl did great on both surfaces and then Bjorn Borg was obviously exceptional.”

Reports have surfaced – excuse the pun – during the US Open this year about the perceived slowness of Arthur Ashe Stadium in comparison to previous years.

Alex Corretja said on Eurosport it'll play the same speed eventually but the court being painted later affected it in week 1

— MT™ (@mrklthms) September 5, 2017

Rafter stressed the importance of variation in playing surfaces and conditions.

“I like different pace (courts) with some fast and some slow, all that sort of thing,” he said.

“I find it hilarious that the players whinge about it getting fast. I just think it’s ridiculous, (just because) it’s not playing into their hands any more. These players have far too much say these days – we just rocked up and played and did whatever it was. If it was slow, and we had different balls, then yep, bad luck. That’s just the way it was.

“If you’re a great player, you’ll do well on both.”