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Australia's Jordan Thompson was left overjoyed by his first Wimbledon win but was far from enamoured with the slow nature of the All England Club courts.
Jordan Thompson, fresh from earning one of the biggest wins of his career at Wimbledon, has slammed the "ridiculously slow" courts at the All England Club this year.
At the end of the penultimate set of his five-set triumph over rising Norwegian star Casper Ruud on Wednesday, Thompson had started to get agitated.
He revealed later that it was because he was so disenchanted with how sluggish the court had been playing.
"Honestly, I was getting very upset at the pace of the court. We're playing on grass courts that are ridiculously slow this year," the 27-year-old Sydneysider complained.
He had seen a two-set lead disappear against the world No.14 and though he regrouped superbly to win 7-6 (8-6) 7-6 (7-3) 2-6 2-6 6-2 after just over four hours, he was irritated that Court 12 was so different to those he'd played on at previous Wimbledons.
"I don't know what's changed. I feel it's getting slower and slower here every year," he said.
"A five-set match at Wimbledon when three of the sets are 6-2 - a match like that shouldn't be over four hours. That just shows you how slow the courts are and how long rallies are. It should be 30 to 40 minutes a set."
Thompson evidently believes the spongier courts, allied to what he feels are 'fluffier' tennis balls, are changing the odds for those players who have normally thrived on Wimbledon's pacier surfaces.
Organisers have been quick to defend the state of the courts, saying they're no different to usual despite the high number of players slipping on the surfaces made greasy by the high rainfall over the past week.
"I like watching tennis. Go back and YouTube other matches in the past. I don't think you'll see the same pace of courts that you do now," said Thompson, a good enough grass-court player to have beaten Andy Murray at Queen's Club.
Not looking overjoyed about his win later, even though he admitted he'd been really pumped on the court after the victory, he explained: "Scheduled for a first round match on Wednesday and it goes four hours - I'm not enamoured of that. I've got to conserve my energy."
Especially having to play the Japanese maestro Kei Nishikori less than 24 hours later on Thursday.
"I wouldn't be here if I don't believe I could go deep in the event but it's a pretty tough draw. A high seed and then Nishikori next - it doesn't get much tougher than that in a second round of a slam.
"But I'll go out there and give everything I've got.
"Probably I'm the underdog - he's a great player, a top-10 player. He's had injuries but there's no question of his ability and I'll look forward to playing him."
Nishikori is in danger of becoming Australia's public enemy number one following his first round win over Sydney's Alexei Popyrin - who had also felt the courts were remarkably slow - in straight sets on Wednesday.
It's a measure of how tough Nishikori is to beat at Wimbledon that the only men who have defeated the 31-year-old are Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Roberto Bautista-Agut, Marin Cilic, Milos Raonic, Andreas Seppi, Juan Martin Del Potro, Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal.
Thompson will be out to join a really elite bunch.
