The tracks of Paris: the fastest in a decade throughout the circuit

Jose Morón | 29 Oct 2024 | 13.30

The tracks of Paris: the fastest in a decade across the circuit

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"The courts are very, very fast," commented Carlos Alcaraz yesterday while practicing at the Paris Masters 2024 facilities. The sensations of the Murcian have been confirmed today when we learned about the CPI (Court Pace Index) of the tournament, making it the fastest tournament this year in the last decade since we at Punto de Break have been taking measurements. In ten years, there has not been a tournament with faster conditions than this year's in Paris.

As can be seen from the data provided by TennisTV, the Paris Masters 2024 reaches a CPI of 45.5 points, surpassing the 45 points that mark the beginning of the fastest category. In the last ten years, as we mentioned, there has not been a single ATP tournament that has exceeded the 45 points mark. The closest was Shanghai in 2016, which reached 44.4 points.

It seems that after many years where the trend was downwards, promoting a slower type of play to see more exchanges from the baseline, in 2024 the opposite has occurred, with each hardcourt tournament increasing the speed compared to previous years. For instance, Cincinnati, the second fastest hardcourt tournament on the circuit this year with a CPI of 42.5 points, increased speed by 25% compared to last year.

Court conditions pic.twitter.com/6klFqjFY4d
— Del🇪🇺 (@Stroppa_Del) October 29, 2024

The balls may be behind this

Everything indicates that this measure is taken to compensate for the slowness of the current tennis balls. Many players have been complaining since early 2023 that most balls on the circuit are very slow, getting bigger as games progress and becoming very difficult to move. As explained years ago in a private conversation to Punto de Break, the circuit tends to balance one thing with another to make the game as fluid as possible.

Regardless, surpassing the 45.5 points mark, the courts at the Paris Masters 2024 are the fastest in a decade throughout the ATP circuit, making the conditions a bit more special. As always, there will be players who benefit more from this speed boost than others. We will see who is able to make the most of it for their own interests.

Clarification note: This study excludes data from the Grand Slams, as these tournaments have stopped sharing their CPI for years to assess their speed. It is known that the Australian Open is the fastest of all, even faster than Wimbledon, but the exact number is unknown.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Las pistas de París: las más rápidas en una década en todo el circuito