They say it takes a lot of patience, strength and endurance to master the clay. But does the clay surface make you work way harder than the hard surface?
The tennis geeks spent some time looking into this and found that on average points, it takes twice as long to play on clay compared to hard court, so you can imagine the amount of load placed on the body. Yes it is a “Softer surface” than hard court and the ability to be able to slide has less impact on the body, but the volume I feel overrides those factors.
Consider you are a player who after hours and hours of practice have developed a solid forehand down the line, which is so strong that every time you hit the shot, it gets zipped passed away your opponent for a whopping winner on a hard surface. Now, you have been asked to play a tournament on the clay court and you are surprised to see that your opponent always reach the ball and gets it back in the court almost every single time. How will you feel? Don’t know about your patience level but if this happened to me, I will be super-duper impatient and might just get a little frustrated to.
Well, this is exactly what happens with the hard hitters who love to just smash the ball for a winner. They are putting the same effort, they are following the same technique and are even smashing the ball with same power, but not able to finish as often as they like to.
This definitely calls for more mental and physical endurance levels. It’s a different ball game all together. Remember how Rafa won his first French Open in 2005 against Mariano and yet failed to perform well on hard courts?
To sum it up, let’s look at three points which a clay court demands out of a player –
1. More strength as the wear and tear is much more than other surfaces
2. Definitely more stamina as the energy expenditure is huge
3. More mental toughness as the concentration and decision making power takes a toll
Clay is way too different from other surfaces as due to its unstable nature, it makes it one of the most difficult surface to adapt quickly. Further, there are players who find it difficult to slide and then hit the ball. Of course players like Monfils, are less who can slide anywhere they want to but the very technique has to be developed if you are not a natural slider.
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The tennis geeks spent some time looking into this and found that on average points, it takes twice as long to play on clay compared to hard court, so you can imagine the amount of load placed on the body. Yes it is a “Softer surface” than hard court and the ability to be able to slide has less impact on the body, but the volume I feel overrides those factors.
Consider you are a player who after hours and hours of practice have developed a solid forehand down the line, which is so strong that every time you hit the shot, it gets zipped passed away your opponent for a whopping winner on a hard surface. Now, you have been asked to play a tournament on the clay court and you are surprised to see that your opponent always reach the ball and gets it back in the court almost every single time. How will you feel? Don’t know about your patience level but if this happened to me, I will be super-duper impatient and might just get a little frustrated to.
Well, this is exactly what happens with the hard hitters who love to just smash the ball for a winner. They are putting the same effort, they are following the same technique and are even smashing the ball with same power, but not able to finish as often as they like to.
This definitely calls for more mental and physical endurance levels. It’s a different ball game all together. Remember how Rafa won his first French Open in 2005 against Mariano and yet failed to perform well on hard courts?
To sum it up, let’s look at three points which a clay court demands out of a player –
1. More strength as the wear and tear is much more than other surfaces
2. Definitely more stamina as the energy expenditure is huge
3. More mental toughness as the concentration and decision making power takes a toll
Clay is way too different from other surfaces as due to its unstable nature, it makes it one of the most difficult surface to adapt quickly. Further, there are players who find it difficult to slide and then hit the ball. Of course players like Monfils, are less who can slide anywhere they want to but the very technique has to be developed if you are not a natural slider.
Well I believe that clay courts are tough to play on… what do you think?
Do comment to share your thoughts
Also, subscribe to the blog for more awesome content
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