Sunday 6 May 2012

Blue Clay- Here to stay or go away?

This weeks Mutua Madrilena open is special for a few reasons. Firstly, and somewhat contentiously the joint event for both men and women on the ATP and WTA tours will be offering more prize money for the ladies, secondly the Caja Magica (the venue for the event) is the only tournament in Europe in which the roofed stadium houses 3 courts, all which can offer play in a rain delay. However, these interesting but somewhat irrelevant stats pale into insignificance when you realise that this Madrid Open will be the first ever clay court event to be played on Blue Clay.

Tournament owner and former professional Ion Tiriac has always been known to shake things up, least we should forget his controversial introduction of model ballboys and girls that garnered so much attention back in 2008. This time, he says the move to a more 'viewer and player friendly" blue clay will enhance the experience for tv viewers who might have struggled to make out the ball before, and won't truly hinder the players. Indeed Tiriac had figures at the ready saying his expert team of court analysists believe that the visibilty will be over 20% better for those watching, and that it's just a happy coincidence that the blue matches that of Mutua Madrilena the premier sponsor of the event.
Naturally, with change comes a variety of different opinions. Clay stalwart and hardly an acrimonious figure, Rafael Nadal is one of a few players to already have spoken out against the move saying,   "The court is more slippery than usual, because I do not know if you have too little clay, it's hard underneath it, and [maybe] if you paint it blue its more slippery ... I am not a technician, but I've noticed it. There are times when the court is soft, but that’s a less worrisome problem." Nadal, born Majorcan also echoed a Federer like argument, pointing out that the clay season and Roland Garros has always been played on red/orange clay suggesting that the blue is somewhat unnatural.
Whilst a cynic might argue that Nadal's beef with the change is due to his previous clay success, and a dislike for a potentially faster and more slippery surface particularly when playing against monster hitters like Isner and Del Potro, he is not the only player to argue against the blue. Raonic, no pusher, and a player that would perhaps benefit from the new surface, tweeted about the slippery nature of what he and many others have now deemed "Smurf Clay".




However, what has to be remembered in the face of much criticism and skepticism, is that this is hardly the first big radical shake up in tennis in recent memory. Hawk eye received a lot of negative press about the potential for time wasting, slow down the game, usurping the umpire- i could go on- but has been an unanimous success. A short 7 years ago, and both the Australian and the US Opens were played on green surfaces, but now both use different shades of blue, and undoubtedly provide a clearer more vivid picture for both spectators and players. Despite the comfort and tradition the red clay provides, the manufacturing process that the courts undergo, involves applying a dye to the court whether it's blue or orange, so the difference between the actual playing surface of 2012 and 2011 is minimal at best.


Yesterdays start of play shed some interesting light on how the surface will play differently, and how this will affect the players. 3 of the marquee matches on the Manolo Santana centre court went 3 sets and over 2 and a half hours possibly indicating a variation in how the court plays as the match develops. Indeed Venus Williams after her marathon win told reporters that "she had to remember she was on a clay court (sic)", referring to the combination of the colour change, and the slightly faster surface. Another troubling development has been the ankle injury to Wozniacki today during her gutsy win over Pervak. The Dane is unsure of whether she'll be able to continue in the tournament, but will seek doctors advice before making a final decision tommorow. So far, one injury can be attributed to rotten bad luck, but by this time next week should there have been any more then we may just be celebrating the downfall of Tiriac's blue dream and assigning it to the history books. There's certainly a few players who hope so.

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