Recently, flamboyant and temperamental tennis ace Nick Krygios made headlines for boycotting the French Open, the second Grand Slam tennis tournament of the year, and the only clay-court Grand Slam tournament. According to Mr.Krygios, the French Open “sucks”.
Though the news was shocking to many, I was not very surprised. Any rational observer would consider this blatant jibe at the 128-year-old prestigious Grand Slam Tournament as a deep disrespect to the ideals of the game. Yet, Mr. Krygios’s impulsive, if not deliberate, act of slander, sadly reflects the mindset of many tennis enthusiasts around the world today.
With the growing pace of life in the modern world, it seems today’s tennis fans can only appreciate fast-paced games, with heavy hitters and big-servers at a huge advantage due to the fast indoor and outdoor hard courts being used at almost 60-70% of the tournaments on the tennis world tour. Clay-court tennis is for the patient fans, and hard-hitting and heavy serving loses its power on clay courts. It’s more of an escape from the already very fast paced life that we all are living.
Success on clay courts is all about strategy, patience and problem-solving skills. Incumbent World No.1 tennis player Rafael Nadal is an epitome of all of these qualities, and that is what led to him winning a staggering record 12 French Open championships, when modern legends like Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have only been able to win one French Open title each. Another legendary player and former World No.1, Chris Evert(now retired), won seven French Open titles, and has secured her rightful place in the tennis hall of fame.
I believe tennis is a far more intelligent sport than what it is considered. One often underestimates the value of strategy, tactics and analysis when it comes to playing tennis. In fact, court conditions, wind and rain affect the outcome of a match in a far greater sense than we realize, and knowing how to navigate through them is what sets apart a contender from a champion.
And clay-court tennis, though slow in nature, helps to bring out the complete athlete in you. The complete athlete gives as much importance to tactics as he/she does to brute strength.
The ATP and WTA, which are the governing bodies of the men’s and women’s tennis world tour respectively, fortunately seem to recognise the value of clay-court tennis in making tennis a sport to be enjoyed thoroughly. While the clay-court season is still confined to two months of the tennis tour, we have seen slowing down of courts to make playing conditions similar to those of clay in order to reward the more complete tennis player.
For most professionals play well in fast conditions by hitting the ball hard, but very few can master the lost art of clay-court tennis!
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