From Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to Marin Cilic, many of the current champions learnt their game on the red dirt. This is a change that has been in the making for at least two decades.

In the mid- to late 1990s, tennis was widely criticized for being too fast, resulting in rallies that hardly ever lasted beyond three points, or games that were decided on who served faster. For example, the 1995 Wimbledon semi-final between Pete Sampras and Goran Ivaniševic featured 59 aces, and in the second set, Ivaniševic did not drop a single point on his serve, winning 17 of his 20 service points with one shot. Fans were turning away from serve-fests, and former players thought that the game had lost its finesse. To address this, the Grand Slams decided to slow down their courts.

View Full Image

Clay is the most forgiving surface for a player’s body. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Between 2001 and 2003, the US Open slowed down its hard court by adding more sand to the acrylic paint mix applied on the surface. In 2008, the Australian Open, already played on a slow hard court, changed to a surface that made the game even slower. Only the French Open, played on the slowest of surfaces, clay, did not need a change.

Over the years, the slowing down of the courts had sweeping effects on the game at its highest level. Matches began to homogenize, and the dominant style of play became a baseline-heavy, long-rallying, defensive game, like the one played by those who were champions on clay.

“I would have won a lot more titles if I was playing in this era," Sergi Bruguera, who won back-to-back French Open titles in 1993-94 and ushered in an era of Spanish dominance on clay, remarked when he was in India for the inaugural edition of the Champions Tennis League (17-24 November). “All courts (now) play at the same pace, so there’s not too many adjustments you need to make to your game. That’s why you see the same players winning on all surfaces."

View Full Image Leander Paes and Rafael Nadal (below) both grew up playing on clay courts. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Building blocks

The All India Tennis Association does not keep a tab on the number of tennis courts in India, or what their surfaces are made of. Tennis administrators, coaches, and players all agree on one thing though: Clay courts are fast being replaced by synthetic hard surfaces to cut down on maintenance costs. Almost all tournaments in India are played on hard courts, including its only ATP event, the Chennai Open.

Vece Paes, Leander Paes’ father and an Olympic medallist himself (the 1972 Munich Games, hockey bronze), has worked as the doctor for the Indian Davis Cup team. Through the years he has closely followed the way the game has progressed, and believes the Indian players are losing out because of this transition.

“If you see the young Indian players on the periphery of the Davis Cup team, they can’t really sustain in the rallies. Playing on clay is important to build that game," says Dr Paes.

“Clay teaches you to suffer," says the 2003 French Open champion, Juan Carlos Ferrero. The intense Spaniard, who achieved a career high of No.1 in 2003, was bred on dirt and believes the surface offers the best education on how to construct a point.

“It is a great surface to start on," says India’s most successful tennis player Leander, who grew up on the clay courts in Kolkata. “It teaches you mind games. Since you cannot hit winners so easily, it is like playing chess on the court."

Even those who learn to play on other surfaces say that learning how to play on a clay court is key to success on the pro tour. Mark Woodforde, one half of the most successful doubles pair tennis has ever seen (the other half is compatriot Todd Woodbridge), learnt his craft on grass courts. When the time came to step up to the elite level though, he had to adapt. “When I started on the tour, the first four years I was made to play on clay," Woodforde, who was part of the commentary team for the Champions Tennis League, says. “My coach told me absolutely not to play in the US and on hard courts. I would play on European clay for eight months, and play on grass or hard courts only once I was back in Australia. Given the way tennis has progressed, with courts slowing down all over the world, it is necessary for youngsters to have some background on clay. It teaches you to be mentally strong, and be patient."

Former Croatian player Ivan Ljubicic, ranked No.3 in the world in 2006 and currently coaching Canada’s ace-master Milos Raonic, agrees that clay is the best surface to “teach tennis". “Mainly because you have more time to hit the ball and it is easier to track down balls coming from your opponent so it becomes more important to hit well, create points, understand better the game as a whole," Ljubicic said in an email conversation. “For this same reason, kids at a very young age in France and Italy start playing with softer balls so they swing without fear of missing and focus on clean technique, and also get to balls easier so they also learn how to move."

View Full Image Rafael Nadal. Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

“Because the surface is slippery, it helps build the leg muscles and core strength," Leander says. And despite the wear and tear of running around, chasing the ball all day on the red dirt, clay is supposed to be the most forgiving surface on the body. Although it pushes the muscles to their limit, it spares the jarring-to-the-joints that a hard court, or the knee-fatigue a grass court, can bring.

“Having played a lot on clay early in my career, I don’t remember ever having pain in my knee or ankle or shoulders," says the 49-year-old Woodforde. “There was the occasional muscle pull due to the running and sliding. But your body does not go through the pounding it does on a hard court."

For developing the game, it seems, nothing works as well as clay.

Disadvantage India?

The problem India is facing is not just that clay courts are being swept off, but that every other surface is being replaced by synthetic hard courts.

“Laying a clay court costs about ₹ 2.5 lakh as opposed to ₹ 5 lakh for a synthetic court," Leander says. “But the maintenance takes up a lot more." It includes watering and sweeping the court daily, and laying the white lines. The courts dry up much faster in the Indian heat than the milder European climate and the monsoon could wash away the clay.

Given how cumbersome maintaining clay courts can be, India’s former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj believes that a slower hard court should also do the trick.

“I don’t think it is essential to start on clay," Amritraj says. “Any slow court will teach kids how to build a point. It is about getting them to play more shots, find more angles, so that they don’t pull the trigger too quickly. Sure, clay is the easiest on the body, right from the youngest to the oldest, but for players just starting out it shouldn’t be that much of a problem."

While the former players believe that the impact on joints is not as severe for youngsters, it is not a great long-term prospect. “In the long run it surely can’t be healthy to play on cement or any hard court," says Ljubicic. “I can’t think of another sport that is ‘played’ on concrete."

The other edge clay has over hard courts, which both Amritraj and Leander agree on, is the variable bounce that gets players to think on their feet.

“The bounce on clay is very inconsistent," says Leander. “The looseness of the top surface means the ball skids or holds up, and you have to find the right shot. It makes you very adaptable."

India has never had a clay legacy to speak of, but its apathy to the surface is being exposed in the age of attritional tennis. For the country to take rapid strides in world tennis, it needs to find its feet on clay.

Subscribe to Mint Newsletters * Enter a valid email * Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

Share Via