The Resurgence of Clay Court Tennis

In a just over a week’s time, the tennis tour makes its welcome return to Europe for the start of the clay court season in traditional old tennis clubs. After the months of hardcourt tennis, I see this as a welcome change and I’m looking forward to the players testing their skills on the red dirt.

However, in the days when only the French Open was televised in the UK, I certainly remember how clay court tennis was once branded as “boring” and there was a wish for the tour to hurry up so we could see the ‘real’ tournament that was Wimbledon.

Clay seemed to gain more interest when top (and known) players such as Borg, Chang, Courier, Agassi etc. excelled on it, along with characters such as Yannick Noah. But when those lesser known European specialists were at the fore, I think the old stereotypes came back again.

But with the emergence of players like Rafael Nadal who helped to put clay court tennis back on the map again, and of course with increased television coverage and internet streaming, the clay season now receives as much attention as any other and is admired for the different skill sets a player has to have to exceed on it.

In days of old I didn’t care for it, but now its something I really enjoy and we’ve witnessed some great matches on this surface over recent times. Do you still find clay court tennis “boring”, or have you grown to like it or gain a greater appreciation of it over the years … ???

Don't particularly like clay but each and too his own.

Pity we didn't have more grass tournaments

"In days of old I didn’t care for it, but now its something I really enjoy"
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I wonder why is that...


I like clay, as much as any other surface. And I like it that there is so much diversity in tennis (unlike any other sport) - different surfaces, different styles...
So I too am looking forward to the upcoming clay season, even though that will probably mean the end of Novak's winning streak , unless...

Dirt is for planting wheat not for playing tennis. Although in recent years clay court tennis is more watchable because the players have the power to hit through the clay courts. (ie Robin Soderling). Give me good hardcourt tennis anyday of the week, it allows both the power players and the grinders a relatively equal chance of advancing. Plus Nadal is virtually unstoppable on clay, the best I have ever seen. I would be willing to be my house he will win RG this year, although I am not a gambling man.

OK Green, apart from the obvious.

But by whatever means you may be initially drawn to clay court tennis, it leads you on to watching other players and how they perform, and other matches, which can prove to be very enjoyable.

I think that certainly over the past 5 years or so, we’ve seen some mighty battles with Nadal against Federer because for the first time in a long time, Federer faced someone who could actually play better than him on a surface. Novak’s development has been good to watch and we had the battle for no2 a few years ago on clay. Murray showed some development at MC back in 2009, and who can forget that mighty tussle in Madrid between Rafa and Nole? I think we’ve seen some great matches and mighty drama. The reverberating shock of Rafa’s defeat at the FO in 2009 and then the tentative round by round pressure of Federer to see if he would actually win the FO and equal the Slam record? And JMDP came through as a semi-finalist at the FO in 2009, so will he do that again? Its been great stuff.