5 things to look forward to this clay court season

By and large, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams’s dominance in tennis hasn’t been challenged in 2015. While Serena is yet to be defeated this year, Djokovic, despite having suffered two losses this season, has been nothing short of imperious. However, with the clay court season all set to commence with the Monte Carlo Masters next week, tennis fans might want to brace themselves for surprises, which clay has an inveterate penchant for throwing plenty of. Rafael Nadal has looked nowhere near his best this season, but the gritty Spaniard, who has a seemingly cosmic relationship with clay, will look to arrest his decline over the course of the next two months. While Djokovic has occasionally challenged Nadal on what is the latter’s favourite surface, the Spaniard remains the best player on clay by a fair distance. French Open defending champion Maria Sharapova, who has had a mixed season so far, too will look to regain her best form before heading to Paris. Let us take a look at five things that we can look forward to as the curtains are all set to raise on the 2015 clay court season.

#1 Rafael Nadal\'s revival

The nine-time French Open champion will look to arrest his plummeting fortunes this season.

Rafael Nadal is having a horrid season. After going down to Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final of the Australian Open, where he seemed to be unwell, he has gone on to win just one title this season, the Argentina Open at Buenos Aires. Incidentally, even this victory came on his favourite surface. Moreover, Nadal has also failed in arresting his downward slide in the ATP rankings, where he has now dropped to the fifth spot.

With the onset of the clay court season, his fans will expect to see Nadal not only regain his form but his confidence as well, which at the moment seems to be at an all-time low. If history is any proof, then Nadal has shown the uncanny knack of shaking off sluggish starts to the season when the clay court season commences and resuscitating his spirits.

In 2013, after recovering from an injury that had laid him low for 222 days, Nadal came back strongly to win six titles, five of which were played on clay before rounding it off with a win at the French Open.

Nadal overcame both Djokovic and Andy Murray, currently ranked number one and three respectively to win the French Open last year. While the Serb has had some success against Nadal on clay, Murray, despite encountering the Spaniard five times on the surface, is yet to best him.

Nadal has won the Monte Carlo masters a record 8 times, and even enjoyed a 46-match winning streak at the event which was snapped by Djokovic in 2013. Heading into Monte Carlo next week, not only will Nadal look to reaffirm himself as the best player on clay, but will keep a wary eye on the ATP rankings, which he will seek to improve.

#2 Novak Djokovic\'s French Open ambition

Djokovic is one of the few players who has given Nadal a run for his money on clay.

One man stands between Novak Djokovic and a ‘Career Grand Slam’: Rafael Nadal. While Djokovic has gotten the better of the Spaniard on clay on a few occasions, he has been unable to surmount the barrier when it matters the most.

He came closest to unlocking the Nadal puzzle in the 2013 French Open semi-final, that stretched out to five sets. Despite getting an early break in the deciding set, Djokovic was unable to close out the match and Nadal went on to win his eighth French Open crown.

However, Djokovic can draw inspiration from the fact that it was he who snapped Nadal’s record match-winning streak at Monte Carlo in 2013. He is also one of a small clutch of players who can test Nadal on clay. Armed with powerful ground strokes and a redoubtable serve, Djokovic, despite being no clay court specialist, has often proved to be a hard nut to crack for Nadal.

Given Nadal’s lacklustre form this year, Djokovic will, no doubt fancy his chances in this year’s French Open and will be keen to begin this clay court season on a winning note at the Monte Carlo Masters.

#3 Who will stop Serena Williams?

Given the form she has been in this season, Serena will fancy her chances ofwinning a third French Open crown.

Only twice has Serena Williams succeeded in winning the French Open. What might otherwise be counted as an amazing achievement pales into an ordinary one when compared with Serenas mind-boggling accomplishments at the other Majors.

The French Open was dominated by Justine Henin of Belgium for most part of the 2000s. In the 2003 French Open, when Serena was the defending champion at the event, she came undone by the Belgian who subsequently went on towin the title.

While Serenas record on clay might not inspire the same sense of awe that her feats on other surfaces might, she is never easy to beat, regardless of her lack of preference for the surface. She entered French Open 2014 as the defending champion as well only to lose in the second round of the event to GarbineMuguruza.

Given the raging form that she is in this year, Serena will, no doubt, seek to make amends this year.

#4 Maria Sharapova looks to relive 2014 clay court season

Defending champion Maria Sharapova has had a difficult year, but will hope for a reversal of fortunesas the clay court season commences.

It’s been a year of mixed fortunes for Maria Sharapova, who will turn 28 on the 19th of this month. After beginning the year on a winning note by clinching the Brisbane International Open, she lost the final of the Australian Open to Serena Williams in straight sets.

And despite a good showing at the Fed Cup, she hasn’t had any success at the WTA events. Her campaigns at both Indian Wells and Miami were forgettable affairs. While she lost to Flavia Pennetta in the fourth round at Indian Wells, she was shown the door in the very first round at Miami, where Daria Gavrilova made short work of her in straight sets.

It’s now been nearly 11 years since Sharapova won her first Grand Slam title as a 17-year old when she won against overwhelming odds, beating Serena in straight sets and becoming the youngest Wimbledon champion since Martina Hingis. Her career since has been rattled by injuries and inconsistency, preventing her from having a significantly greater number of titles in her trophy cabinet against what she actually does.

After having failed to defend the French Open in 2013, Sharapova returned with renewed vigour, winning three clay court titles before ending the clay season with her second French Open title. Maria will look to shake off her indifferent form as she prepares for her title defence at the French Open this year.

#5 Can perpetual contenders turn champions?

Nishikori, along with Raonic and Dimitrov, will be eager to provethemselves in the upcoming clay court season.

At the Madrid Open last year, Kei Nishikori beat David Ferrer, a proven clay-court specialist in the semi-final to reach his first Masters 1000 final against Rafael Nadal. While most were convinced that Nadal would make mincemeat of Nishikori, he had other plans and to everyone’s surprise, not least his, he took the first set and lead in the second before the Spaniard fought back to level the match. A back injury forced Nishikori to withdraw from the third set. Who’s to say what would have panned out otherwise?

Tenacity and patience underline the 25-year old Nishikori, who although might not appear to be an intimidating personality, has a silent resilience that makes one stop and take stock of him. His understated aggression often works in his favour, for his opponents, who often tend to mistake his cautious approach for a defensive mindset, are rendered speechless when he takes matter into his own hands and starts to dictate the proceedings.

Having lost his top three ranking to Andy Murray last week, Nishikori will look to the clay court season to set things right and will hope to improve his record at the French Open, where he has never progressed beyond the fourth round.

Milos Raonic reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros last year after having survived a gruelling five-set match against Gilles Simon in the third round. He became the first Canadian in the Open Era to reach the quarter-final of a Grand Slam before eclipsing his own feat at Wimbledon where he reached the semi-final. Raonic also broke into the top ten last year, rising to a career-high ranking of number 6.

2015 has seen Raonic progress to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic and he also made it to the semi-final at Indian Wells, where he defeated Rafael Nadal en route. Although he has no titles to show for his efforts this year, Raonic seems to be in good form and will be expected to do well in the upcoming clay court season.

11th ranked Grigor Dimitrov is another player who could throw in a few surprises in the clay-court season. Although he was ousted in the first round at the French Open last year, he did not have a forgettable clay court season. He won what remains his only clay court title at Bucharest beating Lukas Rosol in straight sets.