Federer: Court Speeds Designed to Favor Sinner and Alcaraz

The 2025 Laver Cup just reached its thrilling conclusion. Tennis fans can thank Roger Federer for helping develop the international competition. Naturally, Federer was all over San Francisco this past weekend promoting the tournament.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion appeared on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast. Around the 80-minute mark, Federer offered a bold theory that tournament organizers are using court speeds to help create finals matchups between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

When asked if there needed to be a course correction to adjust court speed, Federer replied emphatically, "Yes." He then gave an incredibly detailed explanation for why every tennis player has the same style now.

🎙️🇨🇭Roger Federer not a fan of slowed down courts on tour:

"That's why we, the tournament directors, we need to fix it. We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcraz or Sinner figure it out on lightning fast and then have the same match on super… pic.twitter.com/OvEMOq7jrO
— Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) September 22, 2025

"That's why we, the tournament directors, we need to fix it. We need to have not only fast courts, but what we would want to see is Alcaraz or Sinner figure it out on lightning fast, and then have the same match on super slow and see how that matches up.

"That's how the rankings points used to be, remember? Back in the day, only 12 tournaments counted, so everybody would play on their favorite surface. And then they would sometimes meet, and those were the best matches when you had the attacker against a retriever, and now everyone plays similar," said Federer.

He continued, "It's because the tournament directors have allowed with the ball speed and the court speed that every week is basically the same. And that's why you can just go from winning, I don't know, French, Wimbledon, US Open, and just play the same way."

🎙️🇨🇭 Roger Federer admits that slowing down conditions favors the best players and reduces the chance of upsets.

Results are becoming more predictable but having the two best players in the world in the final sells more tickets.

Do you like that? 🤔👇 pic.twitter.com/PURq9ujkhY
— Tennis Masterr (@tennismasterr) September 22, 2025

Federer detailed his theory, "Obviously, I understand the safety net that the tournament directors see in making the surface slower. It's 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 and, at the right time and he gets past.

So that's what the tournament directors are thinking, like, 'I kind of like Sinner-Alcaraz in the finals, you know? It kind of works for the game'."

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