NEW PLEXICUSHION COURTS

In the wake of an annual spate of injuries and claims that the courts were too slow, Tennis
Australia has installed new Plexicushion courts.

TA officials say they'll be faster than Wimbledon.

Some players disagree.

– Lleyton Hewitt: "I think the biggest thing is all the courts are going to be a lot more consistent, especially compared with Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne... I've practised on Rod Laver Arena a couple of times, I practised one day with the roof open and the next day with the roof closed, and it played exactly the same. I think that's a good sign."

– Mardy Fish: I am not a huge fan of it, to be honest. It's a little slow for me. It plays extremely slow."

– Novak Djokovic: "After a couple of days it can get faster. For now, it's pretty slow."

– Joseph Sirianni (Tennis Australia wildcard playoff winner): "They're slow at the moment. will speed up once players come in from overseas and practise on them... The balls are fluffing up a lot at the moment. I mean the court surface, because it's a new court, it's a bit rough. It's like sandpaper."

– Jelena Jankovic: "I thought it was going to be faster, it seems to be a lot slower. Here [at Hopman Cup] it's indoors, I don't know how it will play outside."

– Alicia Molik: "On Rebound Ace, you get a differing bounce in hot conditions as opposed to cold ones... Plexicushion is a more even surface."

– Maria Sharapova: "Especially in extreme heat, the [old Rebound Ace] court gets very sticky and a lot of injuries can occur. So I'm very excited about it and it will be good to have a good week of practice before to get used to it." – Craig Tiley (Australian Open tournament director): "You will never get 100% of players saying any court is great. Some players like clay, some like grass, some like hardcourts. But I can tell you in my 20-plus years of experience in courts, I've never received such a positive feedback from change."