Roger Federer: Naomi Osaka’s coach reveals what you can’t do at Wimbledon anymore that changed before Roger Federer won his first title
Roger Federer: Wimbledon is the next Grand Slam tournament on the horizon that is less than two weeks from getting underway.
With the grass court major quickly approaching, Wimbledon has announced its wildcards and made a decision over whether they will be awarding one to Roland Garros semi-finalist Lois Boisson.
The wildcards now have their places confirmed at SW19 this year, but there have also been some significant withdrawals from Wimbledon.
Wimbledon are renowned for their traditions, but Naomi Osaka’s coach believes that something significant has changed since 2002.
Patrick Mouratoglou reveals what you can’t do at Wimbledon anymore
Patrick Mouratoglou, who is the current coach of Osaka, is often vocal about his opinions on various issues in tennis.
In his latest Instagram post, Mouratoglou was asked some key questions about Wimbledon and the grass court season.
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One of the questions asked to Mouratoglou related to whether grass courts are now the same speed as hard courts.
Grass was always considered to be the fastest surface, but in 2002 Wimbledon changed its courts from a 70/30 mix of ryegrass and creeping red fescue to 100% perennial ryegrass.
This change was made to help the durability of the courts, but Mouratoglou believes this has also impacted the speed of them.
“True. Grass has nothing to do today compared to what it was like before 2002,” said Mouratoglou. “The surface is much slower, something that is very clear when you look at the grass after the tournament.
“The marks on the grass were really at the net before, now they’re behind the baseline. You can’t play the same way on grass the as you were playing before. The big difference between grass and hard, it’s not the speed anymore, it’s just the movement.”
Mouratoglou is not the first person to make this claim, with former champion Goran Ivanisevic also commenting on Wimbledon’s changes.
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While Mouratoglou has claimed that grass and hard courts are now the same speed, he does believe that certain shots can still have a greater impact on the natural surface.
“True and false. Flat balls and slice balls are faster than on any other surface,” continued the Frenchman. “When you play a slice serve or slice backhand the ball is first bouncing very low and then just going fast.”
Roger Federer won Wimbledon for the first time in 2003, but did play on the previous courts in his four appearances at SW19 prior.
Patrick Mouratoglou says if he still thinks there are grass court specialists
One of the other questions Mouratoglou was asked concerned if there are still grass court specialists, something that he believes no longer exists.
“True. There are no grass specialists anymore, but there are players whose game are much better fitted to grass than others” said Mouratoglou.
The men’s singles tournament has only been won by two players since 2018, with Carlos Alcaraz beating Novak Djokovic in both the 2023 and 2024 finals.
While the women’s singles event has seen seven different winners in as many editions, with Serena Williams the last person to defend the title in 2016.
Barbora Krejcikova will look to defend her Wimbledon title this year, but appears to be an outsider after playing just four singles matches so far in 2025.
The main draw of Wimbledon will get underway on Monday, June 30.
