The Clay & The Grass

It's that time of year - the sun starts to shine, the US Clay and then European Clay season starts and we are in to the run up to the next two Grand Slams - The French Open (Roland Garros) and The Championships (Wimbledon).

Clay events start appearing in the calendar after the Australian Open, but are typically mixed with hard court events for the first swing of the year, that finishes with the combined ATP/WTA Tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami.

Once we get into April, however, we hit the dirt!

There are two types of clay used: In the US it is the green (Har-Tru) clay, that plays a little more like hard court surfaces. Red Clay is more predominant in Latin America and Europe. Although known as clay, the top surface is typically made up on crushed stone or (for the red) brick. No wonder that players end up such a mess if they take a tumble.

Looking at the ATP and WTA Main tour, players typically start their clay preparations in the US - the men playing in Houston and the women in Charleston.

Then in the run up to Roland Garros, the top players start the European Clay Court swing playing on red clay courts, and effectively culminating in the French Open, towards the end of May.

Clay court play is generally considered slower, balls bouncing higher and points tend to be longer, and suit baseline grinders. From a spectator's point of view - the longer rallies make for more interesting matches and test player's mental and physical stamina.

Clay court movement differs greatly from movement on other surfaces. Maria Sharapova is famously quoted as describing herself as a "cow on ice" when playing on clay, and although the slower movement can help taller players, counterpunchers can have the edge in moving them all around the court.

Speed, agility, topspin are all characteristics of good clay courters and when you look at the success of Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, you see clay court play at its best.

Which brings us to... the grass!

The grass season typically runs through June and culminates to all intents and purposes with The Championships, held on the "hallowed turf of SW19 - Wimbledon.

Grass differs again from all the other surfaces - it's slippery stuff and the ball bounces low and can suffer from spurious bad bounces. In recent years, Wimbledon has come under criticism for slowing the courts down, but again - based on my experiences of watching Serve/Volley matches were the points are excessively short, I think that we would have been denied some of the amazing finals we have seen in recent years without those measures being taken.

Grass favours players who are quick to get to low bouncing balls and obviously serve and volley experts. Speed of footwork in particular can catch out players - it's not possible (or even advisable) to slide as if on clay/hard courts. Although in times of exceptionally hot summers in the UK (rare, I know), it is not uncommon to see people sliding at the baseline where the ground has hardened and the grass has worn away.

Players who have been acclaimed as grass court experts would include Federer, Graf, Sampras, Navratilova and both the Williams' sisters. Although they have also enjoyed successes in their illustrious careers on other surfaces, they made grass their own. Their ability to adapt their game to this surface in particular has made them very popular champions in Wimbledon lore.

Bring on the summer... bring on the Clay and the Grass.