Roger Federer voiced his criticisms about the speed of tennis courts in 2025 and the Dubai Tennis Championships have clearly listened.
Speaking to Andy Roddick on Served at the Laver Cup, Federer said that ball speed and court speed was ‘basically the same’ at every tournament.
Several tournaments in 2025, including the Cincinnati Open, were criticised for slowing down their courts to increase the chances of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner reaching the final.
The Dubai Tennis Championships, however, has appeared to ramp up their courts, where they appear to be one of the fastest on the ATP Tour currently.
The Dubai Tennis Championships courts have been very fast
The courts at this year’s Dubai Tennis Championships have been lightning quick, which has had a positive effect for big servers.
Arthur Rinderknech’s victory against Draper saw the Frenchman hold serve in every service game, despite the match going to three sets.
Likewise, Tallon Griekspoor is yet to be broken in his first two matches, while Jakub Mensik, Andrey Rublev, and even Jenson Brooksby have reached the quarter-finals without being broken.
What would have happened if Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played at the same time as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?
The court speed index is yet to be revealed for Dubai, but last year it was significantly slower to the eye than this year’s tournament.
According to Tennis Abstract, the 2025 event had a court index rating of 1.02, which put it firmly in the middle in terms of speed compared to events over the last year.
While Federer said he wanted courts to mix it up to make the tennis more exciting, you could argue it has made the tennis less exciting.
Players who thrive from longer points, such as Draper, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Bublik suffered earlier exits.
However, the inconsistency has made the tournament increasingly more unpredictable, which is exciting for a tennis fan.
Roger Federer has still not got his wish though
It’s a shame that Alcaraz and Sinner have missed out on the lightning quick speeds of Dubai.
It would have been a major test for them and given them the opportunity to prove Federer’s prediction wrong.
Speaking last year, Federer said: “We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz and Sinner figure it out on lightning fast [courts] and then have the same match on super slow – and then see how that matches up.”
If you were in charge of tennis, what is the first rule you would change?
Federer even suggested that tournament directors have slowed courts down to aid Sinner and Alcaraz in their quest for ATP Tour dominance.
“I understand the safety net the tournament directors see [by] 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.
“That’s why the tournament directors kind of like having Sinner and Alcaraz in the finals – it kind of works for the game.”
Sinner and Alcaraz opted to miss Dubai after playing the Qatar Open. They will both be back in action at Indian Wells.
