Coming Through on Clay
Who says power-hitting big servers can’t win on clay? Exhibit A is (yet another) European, the towering Croatian, Ivo Karlovic, who recently won the U.S. Clay Courts in Houston. As the tennis tours hit the dirt in preparation for Roland Garros, it’s time to debate again what it takes to win on clay and why male tennis greats such as Pete Sampras and John McEnroe never won in Paris. As you look at the current crop of top players in
men’s tennis, you notice many hard-hitting players who might be called “hard-court” players if they were born in the U.S. However, budding stars such as Richard Gasquet, Thomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, etc. are all power players with strong groundstrokes, solid serves and the ability to come to net, who play well on clay. As Yannick Noah, Stefan Edberg, Henri Leconte and even Tim Henman showed by their play at Roland Garros, players who come to net a lot can also win on clay. So why didn’t Sampras and McEnroe win at Roland Garros and why have Andy Roddick, James Blake et al struggled to reach the late rounds at Roland Garros? As they say, tennis is very much a mental game…
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