Clay Court Specialist

A clay-court specialist is a tennis player who excels on clay courts, but does not perform to the same standard on hard courts, grass courts, or other surfaces. The term is most frequently applied to professional players on the ATP or WTA tours rather than to average players.

Due in part to advances in racquet technology, today's clay-court specialists are also known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin, strokes which are much less effective when the surface is faster and the balls don't bounce as high. Clay-court specialists tend to slide more effectively on clay than other players. Many of them are also very adept at hitting the drop shot, which is effective because rallies on clay courts often leave players pushed far beyond the baseline. Additionally, the slow, long rallies require a great degree of mental focus and physical stamina from the players.

The definition of "clay-court specialist" has varied, with some placing players such as Rafael Nadal, Thomas Muster, Sergi Bruguera, Gustavo Kuerten, and Juan Carlos Ferrero in that category, even though these players have won tournaments (including Masters Series events) on other surfaces. However, since these players (with the exception of Nadal) won major titles only at the French Open, they are sometimes labeled as such. Other players, such as Sergi Bruguera, Albert Costa and Gastón Gaudio were French Open champions who won all or very nearly all of their career titles on clay. Among female players, there have been very few whose best results were confined exclusively to clay. Virginia Ruzici, Anastasia Myskina, Iva Majoli, Sue Barker and Ana Ivanovic are the only female players to have won major titles at only the French Open since the beginning of the tennis open era in 1968.

In recent years clay courters have attempted to play better on other surfaces^[1], with some success. Ferrero, reached the US Open Final in 2003^[2], the same year he won the French Open, and has also won hardcourt tournaments^[3]. It has been Rafael Nadal who has amongst clay court specialists had the most success on other surfaces, he reached the Wimbledon Final in 2006^[4] and in 2007^[5], before finally winning in 2008^[6]

References

^ Ford, Bonnie D (2003-09-206). "Nadal the lead warrior in Spanish surge on grass", EPSN.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ "Ferrero shatters Agassi hopes", BBC (2008-06-27). Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ "Ferrero claims Madrid title", BBC (2002-10-19). Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ http://www.inthenews.co.uk/wimbledon/profile/sport/features/wimbledon-profile-men/rafael-nadal-runner-up-$1101912.htm
^ BBC SPORT | Tennis | Federer wins historic fifth title
^ Midsummer Classic - washingtonpost.com