Opinions remain split over the Australian Open's Rebound Ace courts after Lleyton Hewitt [Images] called them slower than the French Open's clay.

Hewitt has been waging a long campaign with tournament organisers to produce faster courts that would boost his own chances of winning his home grand slam.

His pleas have fallen on deaf ears, however, and the Australian let his feelings known after his surprise second round loss to Juan Ignacio Chela.

"It's a bit disappointing, purely because I feel like I'm fighting with people that we should be working together with to try to make Australian tennis better," he told a news conference.

"I really don't know when some of these people are going to wake up to themselves."

NOT DANGEROUS

World number one Roger Federer [Images] agreed with Hewitt that the courts could be faster but disagreed with the Australian's suggestion they were dangerous.

"I definitely believe the courts could be a little bit quicker for a hard court event. The U.S. Open is quicker than this," Federer said.

"It's definitely tough on your body, but it's not dangerous."

However, big-serving American Andy Roddick [Images] said there was nothing wrong with the courts and that the surface was fair.

"It's the same for everyone," he said.

"That's the nature of the surface. It's a little slower and the bounce is a bit higher."

Sweden's former Australian Open champion Mats Wilander said he would prefer the courts were faster to break the boredom of baseline tennis.

"Tennis needs a faster court. Let's see some serve-and-volley action. Let's get back to the classic style," the former baseliner said.

Roger Federer's Australian coach Tony Roche agreed the slow courts made for less exciting tennis but that only made the challenge of winning it even greater.

"When you look at the great players, (they) win on all different surfaces," he said.

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