Ode To The Clay

Oh the clay. A mere 2 weeks ago, we entered into the “European Clay Season” and as we all slipped and slid our way across the pond, we were greeted by the smell of the rusty dust that parades around as “clay.” If NASA ever wanted to conduct studies on human’s ability to sustain a community on the red planet of Mars, I can imagine that the red clay of Roland Garros or Monte Carlo would be a fairly close approximation.

The women got off to a quick start and have already completed 2 clay tournaments. This week marks the beginning of the men’s clay season with both the US Clay Court Championships and the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters taking place. Our dear Spaniard Rafa starts his clay season with no real expectations, aside from the face that he won every clay event last year and that he is the only man to ever do so. So no big expectations there. (yes, a little sarcasm dripped onto my shirt)

Clay has always been one of the most fun surfaces to watch and one of the most frustrating surfaces to play on. Most people who grew up in the States likely grew up playing on hard courts; those nice, realiable, non-powdery hard courts. Occasionally, if the weather was nice, my tennis instructor would take our little clinic to the clay courts out back so that we could have a little taste of it (literally, if you fall, the clay will be in your mouth). Playing on clay is like playing against two opponents: the human one across the net, and the organic one below your feet. The ball bounces funny and high, you feel like trading in your tennis shoes for ice skates, and you may as well throw your clothes away afterwards because there ain’t no way you’re getting that red/blue stuff outta there.

Fed Cup is also being played on clay at the moment. Yeah, remember that thing called Fed Cup? It’s that thing where people who play an individual sport and train all over the world play it team-style for a few weeks out of the year. I’m sure it’s fun for all the players to go home and finally speak their native tongue on a regular basis, but it has seriously left us WTA fans wanting. The one upside to this particular Fed Cup weekend is that we finally get to see Venus back on the court. By that I mean, sitting next to the court, still injured.

On the men’s side, we were certainly dealt some fun surprises in Monte Carlo. First, the british press were likely thrown into a frenzy when Andy Murray won a match. Then, he won another, and another…it was like he learned to play tennis again! Even today, in his semi against Nadal, he managed to take it 3 sets. Yes, you heard me, he won a set off Nadal on clay. The other surprise was Jurgen Melzer defeating Federer in the quarter finals. I can just hear the pitter patter of computer keyboards as journalists and commentators around the globe begin to write about the fall of the great Fed…

My relationship with clay has been a roller coaster. At first, I did not like it because I honestly had a hard time seeing the ball on TV during Roland Garros. Thanks to HD, however, that problem no longer exists and hooray! I can see the ball again. I can also see that the redness on the player’s socks is actually from the clay and no one’s ankles are bleeding, which is always a relief. Most of all, it takes a smarter player to really make some noise on clay. The ball doesn’t always do what you want it to do, so you better have a plan B, C, and D. Or, if that doesn’t work, be Rafael Nadal, because that’s pretty much works every time.

Deepa is currently a medical student who is suppressing her childhood dream of being a pro tennis player (5’0″ is not exactly the ideal tennis height). In her spare time, she has little choice but to study the intricacies of the human nasal cavity, but does take some time to hit a few tennis balls in a USTA league and ice the muscle pains she inevitably ends up with. She sometimes parades around as a tennis expert and makes sweeping statements about the game to anyone who will listen. You can find her more terse musings at thirtyfifteen.wordpress.com.

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