How to play tennis on clay

Clay courts are slower than other surfaces which means that the ball does not fly through the air after the bounce as fast. Therefore players who can run a lot and are very fit are most suited to clay. Rafael Nadal is currently the best player on clay having a winning streak on that surface since April 2005. He surpassed Guillermo Vilas’s record a few games ago (as I write). If you watch Nadal play you will see how he can slide sideways in the back of the court and chase almost any ball down. Combine that with a good serve, a great whipped forehand and tremendous athletic capability he should retain his French Open crown of 2005.



Clay courts can be red or green but are usually made of crushed brick, covered with rough red brick dust. On hard courts the ball skids faster off the ground making the opponent hit between the waist and knees, but on clay the ball slides. It makes a ridge where it hits and thus bounces higher and slower. Players use a lot of top-spin to offset these ball heights.



So one’s pattern of play or strategy must be much better than on a court which rewards pace.



Clay was mostly thought of as a court for older players as it is softer on the knees. The French Open has been the only grand slam to retain this surface all of its history and the only grand slam event to have clay. The European and Latin American players have been the ones to learn on clay and be good at it. They get used to the higher bounces and longer rallies.



The faster and more aggressive approaches of the serve volleyers do not suit clay as well. It is much more difficult to hit a winner. The baseline game is much more suited. It has been calculated that every year at Wimbledon, players hit an average over the past 10 years of 2,500 aces a year, but at the French Open it is only 1,450 on average. That is because the serve volleyers and the players who rely on rocket like serves to gain many of their points do not last out until the semis and finals of the French Open.



At Wimbledon, the statistics show that the 128 men who start the event make about 4,700 unforced errors. At the French they make 16,500 unforced errors, showing that one of the ways clay courters win points is to wait until their opponent makes an error.



Pete Sampras, said to be the best ever player of his generation, never won the French Open. Nor did Jimmy Connors or John McEnroe. The last time an Australian won the French was Rod Laver in 1969. In the preceding years before him it was Tony Roche in 1966, Roy Emerson in 1967 and Ken Rosewall in 1968.

Women, not from the Latin American and European clay courts have a better record however. Chris Evert won it seven times, but in the last few years the only non-European players to win are Jennifer Capriati in 2001 and Serena Williams in 2002.