The Debate Over Court Speed Reignites After Alcaraz's Early Shanghai Exit

Carlos Alcaraz’s surprise exit in the third round of the 2026 Shanghai Masters was by itself enough to make headlines. The five-time Grand Slam champion has had a choppy return to competition since taking four months off to heal his left wrist. However, the Spanish player’s complaints during the match have reignited a long-held debate about the slowing down of professional tennis courts.

Alcaraz’s Courtside Complaints

During his round of 32 match against Zizou Bergs, Alcaraz had an emotional outburst about the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena’s hard courts, saying, “I don’t understand a thing. It can’t be that one ball bounces and the other slips on me. I can’t, man. I can’t play like this, man … You can’t play tennis by instinct!”

Some online sources also naturally compared Alcaraz’s rant to Taylor Fritz’s own complaints about Shanghai speeding up the court this year. The American player said, “I mean, thank God they sped the courts up this year. Like, it’s faster, so at least it still kind of goes, but, I mean, these balls just, they’re so fast brand new, and then they wear out so fast, and once they get worn out, God, it is just miserable to try to finish a point. Like, so tough.”

Homogenization of Professional Courts

Although Shanghai’s courts were reportedly faster this year, the ATP and WTA have consistently been adjusting court surfaces over the past few decades to create longer and more predictable rallies. This has meant the slow disappearance of grass courts, as more and more tournaments switch to hard courts. Wimbledon is now the only Grand Slam tournament to be hosted on grass, and it shifted to 100% perennial ryegrass in 2001 to create a slower pace while improving turf durability.

The increasing homogenization of professional courts is also due to cost and modern racket technology. Grass and clay courts are much more expensive to build and maintain than hard courts, and the latest tennis racket strings and frames favor powerful baseline playing styles instead of the traditional serve-and-volley style that once dominated the sport.

Federer’s Past Court Complaints

Roger Federer has been one of the loudest and most frequent objectors to the shift happening in court speed, saying, “Fast courts brought variety—quick points, net play. Are they going extinct? … We have to fix it … tournaments should feature both lightning-fast and super-slow courts to encourage diverse playing strategies.”

Federer also argued that the slower courts are allowing many professional players to limit their playing styles to one that fits all current surfaces. In particular, he said that he wants to see Alcaraz and Sinner adjust to faster conditions.

Zverev’s Accusations of Favoritism

It is interesting that Alcaraz’s loss has been the source of this debate’s resurrection, because Alexander Zverev just last year accused ATP organizers of intentionally slowing down courts to favor the Spanish player and longtime rival, Jannik Sinner.

At last year’s Shanghai Masters, Zverev said, “I hate when it’s the same, and I know that the tournament directors are going towards that direction because obviously they want Jannik and Carlos to do well every tournament, and that’s what they prefer.”

“I’ve been on tour for 12 years now, and we always had different surfaces,” he continued. “You couldn’t play tennis the same way on a grass court, hard court, and a clay court. Nowadays, you can play almost the same way on every surface, so I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of it.”

Zverev has not been making the same complaints this year, which is not surprising given his on-court success. However, his comments further add to the many players and fans complaining about this shift away from court surface variety on the professional circuit.

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