Man, ok, this is my take.



Right now, for the past 10-15 years, tennis has become homogenised towards a clay court style. Some people on here saying the last 10-15 years on clay have been weak compared to the nineties— wh...what?! I can't stop laughing. Right now, if you scroll through the top 100 over the last 10 years, the vast majority would be clay courters that have won matches playing from the baseline on hard courts, on clay courts, indoors, grass courts ffs.



To win the french open now, you pretty much have to beat seven players that grew up on clay, unless you face an American or Aussie, who most likely still plays like a clay courter now anyway (sock, millman style). There are very few players in the top 100 who you can honestly say hate playing on clay. The top 10 for sure can all play on it.



When you look at the nineties, some of the greats didn't like it, because the variety of surfaces meant their style simply wasn't suited to it. The greatest player of the nineties, Sampras, was a non-issue at the french, along with a lot of other greats; becker, edberg, rafter, ivanisevic. These guys are pretty much out of the equation from winning that title given their style.



It's not quite fair because obviously Federer and Djok have had years more practice on slower, bouncier surfaces, and with the strings and everything, their games naturally have become incredibly solid from the baseline;



If you want to look purely at achievements, that's fine, but for me it's quite clear the modern player is much better equiped physically, and technically to be a better clay courter than even the greats of the 90s. Federer and Djokovic are on equal footing with Kuerten for sure in my book.



You gotta remember Kuerten was using Luxilon before anyone in 97 - that's pretty much like being on PED's whilst everyone else isn't. Yes he was a great clay courter, yes he was injured a lot, yes he beat Fed at the french in 04 - was it Fed's best match? Of course not, the guy played pretty average considering his form that year - go watch the replay.



My top 5 list is this;



Nadal

Borg

Djokovic

Federer

Lendl



Honourable mentions; Kuerten and Wilander.



Djokovic has beaten the toughest player this sport has produced over and over again on clay; at his best his movement was superior to lendl, kuerten, Wilander. His fitness was superior, he had no holes - there's just no way a guy who has played and grew up playing this much tennis on slower, bouncier courts week in, week out, would find Kuerten and Wilander insurmountable challenges after dusting Nadal and Fed multiple times. No way.



The same can be made for Fed - I can't honestly tell myself 'Kuerten would have beaten Fed more often than not on clay' - Fed was a freaking beast on clay 06-10. That 07 french was some of the most incredible clay court tennis you will ever see in your life -same with 06 rome.



The tour is a grind, right down to your average point which is baseline tennis, heavy spin, slow courts. Don't let nostalgia creep too far.