The Clay - An Opening?

Clay in tennis normally draws a lot of negativity. Slow and arduous rallies. Lack of creativity because most of the shots in a tennis players artillery become obsolete. Clay replaced the pigeon and glass ball in the world of shooting. Clay resembled my favourite childhood character in Morph, though he was plasticine he looked the colour of clay. The film Ghost very much made Clay Pottery the soppiest activity in the world. So you could say Clay has more negatives than positives.

2012 by many scaremongerers is the end of the world.

2012 for me could mark the end of a player monopoly since Sampras and the grass. Borg dominated Clay and Grass. Federer dominated Grass and Hardcourts. Nadal has dominated Clay like no other. You could say he has dominated one surface better than any one player.

2011/2012 has seen a chink in the Nadal armour. Djokovic has become a worthy foe and in Madrid and Rome last year he usurped Nadal as the defending champ and king. Murray at Monte Carlo and Isner at Roland Garros both gave Nadal scares. Scares he is not normally accustomed to. Since Nadal's breakthrough in 2004/05 on Clay he has literally been the gatekeeper on the red stuff.

2012 for me could be the most open field on Clay since the mid-late 90's. Federer looks as if he can finally master slow playing conditions and Djokovic looks red-hot. Players like Ferrer, Almagro and Garcia Lopez all become greater threats given clay is their favoured surface. Nadal looks set for the biggest siege on his Mount Olympus and for me if he is able to starve off this threat will be the biggest testament to his greatness in the game.

Yes, I think it is the most open clay court season that we have seen in a number of years legend that is a good call. Novak in particular looks primed to capture RG. This particular clay court season maybe one of the most important times in all of Rafa's career. If he underperforms he could easily being going into Rg or wimby as the #4 seed. And his recent withdrawal from miami also magnifies the doubt. To maintain his lofty perch Nadal needs to continue to be an overwhelming force on the clay courts, this year that may be a much harder ask than in years past.

2011 certainly opened things up. The so-called clay GOAT being taught lessons on clay was interesting. It's amazing what being born 1 year late can make. Djoko has been pretty close to beating Nadal on clay for years imo (since Hamburg 2008). But Nadal's physical maturity almost always gave him the edge over those tight matches.

Nowadays, I dont think it woudl be close at all between those 2. Despite Nadal reaching his peak (well woudl if his knees could hold up).

legendkillarV2 wrote:

Clay replaced the pigeon and glass ball in the world of shooting. Clay resembled my favourite childhood character in Morph, though he was plasticine he looked the colour of clay. The film Ghost very much made Clay Pottery the soppiest activity in the world. So you could say Clay has more negatives than positives.

I love good clay tennis. Djokovic Federer FO SF last year was awesome.

Bellucci to shock the world by capturing Madrid and reaching RG final.

He is an interesting player when he's not throwing in charity tank games.

There is more anticipation about this clay-court season than there has been for a long time, perhaps you've got to go back to 2006 for a time when the clay season began with so many unanswered questions about how the top players would fare on Europe's red stuff.

I can't wait to watch this clay court season. In my opinion, any time the competition is forced to adjust their game it makes for a better match, and these tennis surfaces do just that. Look for Federer to be the dark house throughout.

Hey? There's only one event left...?

It's intriguing if you evaluate the winners of the clay court tournaments so far:

Monte Carlo: Nadal (b. Djokovic)
Barcelona: Nadal (b. Ferrer)
Madrid: Federer (b. Berdych)
Rome: Nadal (b. Djokovic)

Only one clay court tournament left and that's the big one, Roland Garros and going by how results have turned out, it may not surprise anyone to know that Nadal looks likely to win a 7th title @ RG. A good chance Federer will be his opponent. So it appears the old guard has appeared to reassert itself (rather like @ Chelsea) and have taken the spoils. Just like in 2010 and in 2009, the old guard (Nadal and Federer) have swept all clay court titles before them. The monopoly looks likely to stay (with Nadal taking the lion's share).