Like Different Worlds
There are more tournaments held on red clay courts, where the game is slower, varied and strategic. There are only six tournaments held on grass courts, and it is the players with good serves and strong return shots that are predominant here.
Within the four types of surface that dominate the professional tennis circuit, two are the ones we are concerned with in “The Battle”: red clay and grass. Cement and synthetic courts will be left out on this occasion.
These are two very different surfaces. The clay court, with its traditional brick colour, has a longer season, subdivided into three stages on the annual ATP calendar. After a preliminary period in Latin America, the most important is the second stage, in Europe, which begins in mid April and ends at Roland Garros, and which includes several Masters Series, such as Monte Carlo, Rome and Hamburg.
It is on the clay courts that we are able to watch longer, more elaborate matches as regards strategy, and in which the quality of the serves–such a vital factor in today’s tennis–have less of an effect on the game. Additionally, it enables players to move in a way which on other surfaces is impossible, such as skidding across and being able to hit the ball further away from the natural reach of one’s body. For tennis lovers who are anxious to see good play: variants and shots with all kinds of spins on the ball, the clay surface is an excellent alternative because of its natural slowness, sometimes overcome by faster balls so that the attraction does not become less.
What occurs on a grass court is completely different: it is the fastest surface one can find, together with some synthetic surfaces. Grass, as opposed to clay, does not number a great amount of tournaments. They only last four weeks, after the conclusion of Roland Garros, and include six tournaments: Halle, Queen’s, ‘s-Hertongenbosch, Nottingham, Wimbledon and Newport. The protagonists have a very short time to adapt to what is clearly a different type of tennis, and in which the serve–and particularly the service return–become vitally important. It also requires that the swings should be shorter, since it is impossible to skid along because the player gets rooted to the ground; he/she must play more hunched up, not so straight, and each point is quicker and shorter.
Two different surfaces are going to come face to face with the top players of the moment. Grass vs. ground clay, or Federer vs. Nadal. A clash of styles.
