Clay Court Play

"Engrossing" "Boring" or just plain "Predictable" ?

After watching the last 2 finals between Nadal and Ferrer I have to say that my hopes of a *strong*
two-sided contest have been sorely dashed.
I have an awful premonition that the more clay court tourneys there are the more certain the
outcome will be. Seems to me that the only decent match I saw was between Murray and
Nadal at the semis.

Isn't it about time that more "multi" surfaces and lighter tennis balls were introduced by the ITF to stop
this seeming Monopoly of one surface by one player ?

Any thoughts please ?

I don't think it is for the ITF to make clay conditions tougher for one individual. I think the arguement is for the other players to improve and up their game. I think Barcelona was hit by the fact there was no Federer, Djokovic or Murray. I think making changes will kill the game.

Really Legend ?

Don't you think it's all getting a bit *samey* now ?
There used to be distinct differences between the
different tourneys/surfaces. But now it's all SLOW
Clay (or as near as damn it artificial clay) and ONE
Grass Court Master.

Well for me yummy I think of this era of tennis as amazing and will be looked back on very fondly. Time will always through up very exceptional players that dominate any surface/s for a period. Borg, Sampras, Lendl, Federer and now Nadal have done it. To me players should strive for improvement if they want to win tournaments. Nadal doesn't win many hard court events at Masters level and there isn't many grass court tournaments.

Yummy, its difficult to establish just what gives Nadal an advantage over other players.

It could be the speed of the court/balls etc, it could be the lack of decent opposition or it could be the fact that Nadal is untouchable, atm, on clay.

If its the latter, then its no fault of Nadal that he hasn't got the competition around to push him. I do wonder why there are not more South American clay court specialists any more, they used to clean up circa 1970/80's, now its the Spanish contingent who seem to get to the semi's and finals.

Okay, so its all 3 setters right now, and maybe the competition will stiffen up a bit come the FO, but unless players like Murrayet al, put in the same focus and determination, I can't see anyone but Nadal winning it.

But having said that, I do agree that it is better to have variety than a homogenised surface common to all clay events, if that is the case, isnt there a difference between green and red clay speeds and bounce ?

Nadal is just unreal on clay.

Federer, the 2nd best player on clay in this era, is miles behind Nadal. That speaks volumes as Federer is the Best ever.

There's only 4 major clay court tournies out of a whole season - Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and the French Open. Interspersed with that are the various other 500/250s that the players dib in and out of, and for the top guys, its usually just one of them. Its a very short season and one player prevails because he's really just that good.

Time the other players tried to make more a fist of it rather than inhibit the one player that truly excels. Part of me thinks that most of them don't care for it at all and just play to get it out of the way.

Do you believe in the "Spanish Conspiracy" Woofie ??

I don't but it is getting a tad monotomus (Is that how you spell it? )

Sorry - I know if it was Andy I would be out there waving
my little flag and shouting myself hoarse

Just Who IS going to challenge Rafa on Clay ????

Well even as a Rafa fan, Yummy, I did find much of today's match pretty dire.

I certainly don't believe in any Spanish conspiracy in that they purposely roll over for Rafa, however, I do believe that they have him on the highest of high pedestals when it comes to clay and none of them believe that they have it in them to beat him. But seriously, of the current crop of Spanish players its only Daveed that could give him a go, and he's still not good enough. So if he faced Verdasco, Almagro, Robredo, Lopez, Ferrero et al, he still has the beating of them.

As for challengers? Well ... its all talk of Nole right now, who obviously is very handy on clay. I think Rafa is out of sorts. He is no way playing as good tennis as he did last year. Our friend Womble was at Barcelona this week and she's just reported him having his stomach taped earlier this week. Nole's had some time off, but he now faces 3 straight weeks of play with only 1 week off before the FO. Will he challenge? Sure, but only time will tell to what effect. Until we see Nole play I can't say today if he can mount a challenge or whether for this season it will just be some freak result that does for Rafa.

But when you're a fan, you support your own player. And Feds walking through all those Wimbledons and US Opens didn't do it for me. But I think Rafa's quality of tennis was better last year and we saw it at Barcelona in his match against Monfils. But I'm actually a bit nervous for him.

I think clay is probably the only court where you can get away with having an incomplete game and nearly any other court you will have to have a near perfect game to succeed. Whenever I see clay matches all it is is players trying to hit the ball as hard as they can, literally. I think clay is made out for those who have prime fitness and physique, whereas for instance hardcourts is where those with brilliant tennis ability can shine. Just look at the most successful players on clay, out of them I'd say probably only Rafa can be seen as a ''legend'', the rest are pretty ''meh'' to say the least. And even at the start of his career Nadal too was not the best tennis player to embrace the court, his fitness however meant that he could walk through most clay tournaments. However this is not the case anymore.

Let's hope that Madrid can produce some new faces.

Nadal & Ferrer tends to get boring after a while with the outcome usually guaranteed

I agree they shouldn't tinker with the balls or the conditions in order to try to even things out for other players. I agree with Wooffie, to me Nadal looks beatable this year, where he looked absolutely untouchable last year. I still favor him to win RG, but I think he will get a real challenge come Madrid and Rome, with the other top contenders entering the fray. This year looks as if Novak and Nadal are the two dominant guys at the top of the heap. And Nadal is the greatest clay courter of all time. So there isn't too many opportunities for other players to come up and take the big trophies. Both guys have upped their level, Rafa in 2008 and Novak now. The rest of the pack will close the distance and work out ways to beat these guys. It is the natural progression of the tour, the pack and father time will hunt both these guys down and the rest of the players will work out ways to get victories.

I haven´t a problem with watching Rafa on clay... his reign will come to an end at some time..No different from when Borg also dominated as Matts Wilander. That natural clay court players are obviously going to be there to battle it out for the title.But there simply is not one amongst them that can make a realistic challenge other than Ferrer.. I dont buy into the Spanish conspiracy there are not one of the Spanish squad that we dearly love to beat Rafa. But we have yet to see how Novak brings his game to the clay court. Then the rest of you might not get so bored.. for me I think its great stuff vamos Rafa

Yes Haddie watching Rafa on clay is like is like watching picasso paint, or mozart compose. He just is on another level from everyone else. But personally, clay is not my favorite surface, still I can appreciate the skills it requires. Tennis is different on clay, it is played with a whole other rhytmn and strategy. I didn't used to appreciate it when I was young. I remember watching wilander and lendl play at the Roland Garros final in the 80s and I think the dominant strategy was both guys were trying to bore the other player to death. But today the technology is such that you can hit through the court on clay, but you have to be patient and construct the point correctly. The new technology in racquets has actually made clay court tennis more interesting than it was 25 or 30 years ago. Still give me a good hardcourt match any day of the week.