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Australian Open Tennis Court Surfaces

The Australian Open tennis court surfaces where changed for the 2008 event. The existing Rebound Ace surface was replaced with a cushioned, acrylic rollout known as Plexicushion.

The controversial Rebound Ace will be replaced at Melbourne Park, Albert Reserve and at other Australian Open tennis venues, in a hope that the days of inconsistent pace and bounce will be a thing of the past for Australian tennis.

The existing Australian Open tennis court surfaces have been criticised by the top players because of their propensity to retaining heat, which in turn has been associated with ankle injuries, as well as causing inconsistent pace and bounce.

Top Australian player, Lleyton Hewitt, has praised the move by saying: "I think it's a good decision. We can get a pace that's going to be consistent around Australia". "That's been the biggest problem with Rebound Ace," he added, "Whether I'm playing Adelaide, Sydney or Melbourne, it plays differently. The weather conditions have always affected it so much."

Other professional players are not as sure of the move. Many believe it will be too much like the DecoTurf of the US Open - effectively a hard-court surface. In comparison to Rebound Ace, the ball slows down slightly less on the bounce and bounces slightly lower on the DecoTurf.

Australian Open Tournament Director, Craig Tiley, has denied this by saying that the Plexicushion is not a hard court surface, but a cushioned acrylic surface, thereby preserving the point of difference from the other Grand Slam tournaments.

  • The new surface will have a lower rubber content leading to firmer under foot conditions.
  • It will retain less heat, a factor which has posed a unique problem to the Australian Open
  • The new surface involves applying multiple layers of rubber filled resin to the base and this is expected to achieve more consistency on court
  • The Plexicushion surface will not warrant any change in the current ITF (International Tennis Federation) classification of medium to medium fast

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