Tennis Calendar: Time for sliding and gliding on the clay

It’s time to smell the gravel, put on your gripping shoes and slide to your heart’s content. No more screeching sounds to be heard, no more Hawk-Eye challenges to be made; it’s the surface which bears the innumerable scars of weary warriors.

As much as the cuckoo is the harbinger of spring at about this time of the year, the final at Crandon Park, Miami heralds a momentous change in the tennis calendar year – it welcomes the seemingly innocuous yet the most gruelling of all surfaces – the clay. As the Tour meanders from North America to Europe, the pleasant European spring/summer weather coupled with the most wondrous locations make it a delightful time to enjoy tennis.

Clay is the surface which demands the test of patience and intelligence. Service bombs and finishing points at the net are quite forgotten and instead it’s the longer, excruciating rallies which put themselves forth. Pitch-perfect movement, precise placement of shots, judging the topspin returns – it is a surface for the battle-hardened individuals.

And along with all these, for every ATP player, April brings about the most scary prospect of meeting the Clay Monster – Rafael Nadal. The man who boasts of positive head-to-head records against each of the current top 10 players is at his merciless self during this time of the year. And why not? The terre battue works the best for his style of play and his biggest concern – his wobbly knees. For years he has displayed supreme domination on the red dirt, amassing a humongous number of titles – 38 to be precise.

Even when Rafa was being pummelled into submission in every final by Novak Djokovic during his phenomenal year of 2011, Rafa didn’t allow the mighty Roland Garros trophy to slip away from his grip. But this year, it is a different scenario. The Spaniard has already tasted glory on the red dirt, albeit on the much low-profile claycourts of South America. After ending his seven month sabbatical in February 2013, the seven-time French Open champion did raise a lot of doubts about his fitness but his three titles, which included the prestigious Indian Wells trophy, put all doubts to rest. Naturally, betting against El Matador would be like doubting Daniel Day-Lewis’s acting skills.

The toughest resistance Rafa finds is primed to come from the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. The Serb would be keen to bury the painful memories of gifting away the Roland Garros title last year with a double fault, and get another shot at completing his so-desired Career Slam. With shocking losses at Indian Wells and Miami, Nole would be hungry to regroup and pose a real threat.

Roger Federer, no matter how much he stutters and slips, still has enough fire in his belly. The Swiss maestro, always a pioneer in managing his schedule, won’t be seen in action until the Madrid Masters where he is the defending champion. At 31, the 2009 French Open champion is good enough to reach the latter stages of any tournament.

The newly crowned Miami champion, Andy Murray, perhaps has the most to gain. Having displaced Roger Federer from the No. 2 spot, marking it the first time since November 2003 that neither Federer nor Nadal is in the top 2, the Scot would be keen to continue his success. With just 720 points to defend, Murray would surely be eager to leave a mark on the red dirt this year.

The Spaniards, led by David Ferrer, always pose a challenge on clay. Ferrer, coming off a stellar 2012 and having reached his first Miami final, is on a high, which sets him apart from the rest of the Spanish breed. With his ability to retrieve balls from all over the planet, Ferrer will likely play second fiddle to the invincible Rafa. Juan Martin del Potro, with a Roland Garros semi-final appearance in 2009, too, would be keen to build on his Indian Wells success.

The women stand poles apart as far as their chances on the terre battue are concerned. The last multiple Roland Garros champion was the Belgian great Justine Henin, whose final title in Paris came in 2007. Since then, it has been a case of musical chairs for the women. The last five years have produced five different winners on the hallowed Court Philippe Chatrier.

Serena Williams had quite a bewildering first half of 2012. She came into Paris on the back of two clay titles and to the horror of everybody, slumped to a Grand Slam first-round defeat for the first time in her career. Perhaps that was the spark the six-time Miami winner needed to kick-start the fire within her. One year later she stands atop the world rankings, having mastered two of the last three Slams as well as the Olympic singles gold.

Serena and her motivation can never be questioned but what can be put to rigorous test on this surface is her movement. As much as her serve has remained the most dependable weapon of her game, her footwork on the clay has been, at times, patchy. Her last French Open title was in 2002, a testament to this fact.

Amongst her nearest rivals, Maria Sharapova will be bubbling with oodles of confidence. From being a self-proclaimed ‘cow on ice’ to completing the seemingly impossible Career Slam, Maria comes into the 2013 season as the defending champion in Stuttgart, Rome and Paris. Her immense success last year will perhaps make it easier for her to find her footing on the surface that she least loves, this year as well.

But it is a path fraught with danger. Victoria Azarenka has just been pushed down the rankings and will definitely try to come back with a vengeance. With no clay titles last year, she stands to gain the most amongst the top three, provided she is able to turn the tables on the most demanding surface.

For Sara Errani and Li Na, the surface presents just the right opportunity to get back into the thick of things. Errani returns as the defending Paris runner-up and with that heavy topspin, one title and two final appearances already this year, the diminutive Italian is capable of inflicting plenty of damage in any draw. The 2011 French Open champion Li Na is back from her ankle injury and given the performance she put up in her Miami quarter-finals, the claycourts will only aid in getting back some momentum.

Agnieszka Radwanska and Petra Kvitova each had a couple of clay semi-final showings in 2012 and with both having already been in the winners’ circle this year, it’s a competitive race amongst the women for clay glory. Throw in accomplished claycourters like Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova and perhaps Dominika Cibulkova and you get the perfect recipe for the best clay meal.

Let’s relax and enjoy this sumptuous meal for the next two-and-a-half months.