The Resurgence of Rafa

Rafa's quite simply an artist when it comes to clay! : Bjorn Borg

The clay court season in tennis reaches its climax at Roland Garros in Paris with the commencement of the French Open on May 26, 2013. Among the Grand Slam tournaments, it has the slowest court with the ball rising above the shoulder. Consequently, the majority of clay court specialists go further back in the court to hit the ball, creating additional time to set up for the shot, thus allowing them to take it under shoulder height to generate maximum power. Its gritty surface helps a ball with a topspin to bite into the court and enhance its effect, making it bounce higher and sharper off the ground than on the faster ones. In the last two decades, the amount of topspin generated by the elite players has risen tremendously. According to The Economist, while Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi would typically produce 1,800 ball revolutions per minute off their forehands, Roger Federer's shots have been measured at 2,500, and Rafael Nadal's average around 3,200. Topspin becomes an offensive weapon driving opponents off the court and forcing them into errors.

Serve-and-volley strategies do not work here, nor does rushing to the net. Sheer raw macho power does not produce the same result as on fast courts. The emphasis is on nuancing ground strokes with finesse with long rallies played from the baseline. As a result, often points are decided more by errors than by winners. Though called clay, the court is actually made of a solid permanent base, such as limestone, with a fine coating of crushed brick on top that allows the player to slide over the surface. But sliding successfully to return a ball is an art in itself, something which players like Nadal have mastered and the Americans find uncomfortable to deal with.

Since the turn of the millennium the uniqueness of clay has been getting eroded even as other fast surfaces are becoming slower, resulting in their homogenisation. Despite the denial of the authorities, players have complained about how the other courts have become slower due to the change in their technical specifications and heavier balls. The long rallies, not only at Wimbledon but also at Flushing Meadows and Melbourne, make it abundantly clear that slow surfaces are the favourites of the Grand Slam authorities. The reason is the entertainment value of long rallies.

Federer has pointed out how the slowing surface in the Grand Slam tournaments does not help his aggressive game. It took many years for him to score a solitary championship at Roland Garros in 2009. Aces at the French Open are far fewer than in other Grand Slam events for the simple reason that the bouncing ball provides enough time to reach and return the service.

Who will be the champions at Roland Garros? Between the Australian Open tournaments of 2011 and 2013, the finals in Grand Slam tennis invariably featured two of the quartet - Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Rome Masters, the last clay court event before the French Open, is a good predictor for Roland Garros. In nine instances, one of the finalists of the last 13 championships (2000-12) at Rome became the title holder at Roland Garros. So the probability of getting the trophy at Roland Garros favours either Nadal, the winner at Rome this year, or, Federer, the runner-up. I would bet on Nadal, having seen his fantastic resurgence ever since he returned to the circuit after a seven-month lay-off due to injuries, winning six titles from eight finals. After 30 meetings, he leads Federer 20-10 with 13 of the wins on clay. If he wins it will be a new record of 8 wins at Roland Garros.

On the women's side, Serena Williams, the champion at Rome, is in high form and is a sure bet. Bhupathi-Bopanna have a good chance of being the doubles champions, the Bryan brothers willing!