Once, the Australians dominated amateur tennis, in the days before Open tennis, and even in the early years of Open tennis.  Then, 3 of the 4 Slams were played on grass, the lone exception being the French, always played on the terre battue.  If you were an exceptional grass court player, you could dominate most Slams.  Then, Australian dominance began to fade.  Was it due to less talented players playing the sport?  Or perhaps it was due to professional tennis driving other countries to devote resources to the game?  Or perhaps it was due to the disappearance of grass as a playing surface.

In 1976, the US Open made a peculiar move.  It removed the grass courts at Forest Hills and replaced it with Har-Tru.  Who was that to benefit?  Perhaps the women players like Chris Evert?  Or male players like Jimmy Connors?  That experiment lasted only two years, although in those two years, Bjorn Borg, the king of clay in his day, was unable to win the one Slam that truly eluded him (as he cared little for the Australian Open).

In 1978, the US Open moved from Forest Hills to its current location in Flushing Meadows and it became the first Slam on hard courts.  It would take almost a decade before the American clay court circuit, a series of four clay tournaments that usually attracted more Europeans and South Americans than Americans, would switch over to hard courts.

Even Australia, the source of so many grass court champions yielded.  In 1988, they held the Australian Open on hard courts as well.

So grass tuneups became relegated to the two weeks between the end of the French Open and the start of Wimbledon.  Newport would host a grass court tournament in the US and use the occasion to induct new members into the Hall of Fame.   But otherwise, grass would become this singular oddity in the calendar.

And that’s where we are now.  Unlike the end of the Australian Open which allows players a few weeks of respite, should they desire, or the end of Wimbledon which offers a similar break to top pros, or even the end of the US Open, this period between the French and Wimbledon represents a two-part test which historically few could master.

Borg has several records of note.  He still retains the title for most number of French Open titles, at least for another year.  He won 5 Wimbledons in a row and was in the finals trying to make it 6.  But it’s the peculiar combination that may serve as Borg’s unassailable record.  For three consecutive years, Borg won the French as the premier clay courter in the world, and then went to the grass courts of Wimbledon and won that hallowed title as well.  In 1978, 1979, and 1980, he held 2 Slams.  And he was one match short in 1981.

Players that followed Borg, significantly later, would marvel at just how hard that feat was.  Pete Sampras must have concluded his body was not built to deal with the rigors of clay to make a serious attempt at Wimbledon.  Sampras made only one serious assault at the French.  In 1996, he reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, only to lose at Wimbledon to Richard Krajicek in straight sets in the quarterfinals.  From then on, Sampras never made a serious run at the French, never reached the fourth round.

It is perhaps surprising that two players have made it a habit of reaching the French and Wimbledon finals the past few years.  From 2006 to 2009, Federer reached both the French final and the Wimbledon final, and managed the double once, in 2009.  Nadal reached the finals in 2006-2008 and still has a chance in 2010 to reach the Wimbledon final.  Nadal, in particular, somehow mastered the grass surface.  Perhaps if this had been the grass court of the 1990s, big boomers might have eliminated Nadal, but the grass is slower, more robust, meant to take the pounding of baseline play that is so prevalent among the men and the women.

This week, two grass tournaments are playing played.  Most tournaments, due to the revolving door of sponsors, are generally known by the city that hosts it.  Thus, Halle is the name most people use instead of the Gerry Weber Open.  But Queen’s, short for Queen’s Club, is a description of the club that the Stella Artois Championships are held.  It is not referred to as “London”, even though it is held in London.

Historically, Roger Federer has preferred his Germanic roots and played Halle which he has won many times, though, due to his historic win in Paris last year, he opted to skip.  He’s back again and won his first match over Jarkko Nieminen.

But there’s one more surprise.  The French Open was deprived of two contenders for the title.  Nikolay Davydenko, who was having a great start to 2010 (and a great end to 2009), came into Indian Wells, beat the hugely talented Ernests Gulbis in the 2nd round, and promptly withdrew from the tournament due to a broken wrist.  He skipped the entire clay season.  Halle marks the return of Nikolay Davydenko who is the second seed in the tournament.  Few know that Davydenko once sought German citizenship and speaks German.  Davydenko won his opening round over Greul in straight sets.

Other 1st round Halle winners include Falla, Chiudinelli, Kohlschreiber, Beck, Kiefer, Melzer, Zverev, and Becker.

At Queen’s, Rafael Nadal who won the title 2 years ago returns.  He beat Daniel of Brazil easily.  Other 2nd round winners include Istomin, Benneteau, Lopez, Fish, Llodra, Cilic, Granollers, and Djokovic.  Andy Murray won his opening round yesterday.  Djokovic appears to go back and forth between playing in Queen’s (which he did in 2008) and Halle (which he did in 2009).  Andy and brother Jamie are playing doubles as well.  Marc Lopez reunites with Rafael Nadal to play doubles.  They last won in Indian Wells.

The other surprise return was Sam Querrey who, after his first round loss to Robby Ginepri, took a flight back to California blaming burnout for his tennis woes.  He’s also playing doubles with Lipsky, not Isner, his usual doubles partner.  Indeed, Isner doesn’t appear to be playing this week.  Given Isner’s big game, it’s surprising he’s not playing one of the grasscourt tuneups.

Querrey’s first round opponent?  Makes you wonder if the draw isn’t rigged.  Robby Ginepri, the guy he lost to at the French.  This time, Querrey got the win.  Ginepri is probably still a bit giddy at his French Open success, and grass is not likely his best surface.

Queen’s could get very interesting with Rafa, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic all playing.  It will also be interesting to see what form Davydenko is in.