European Clay court appeal
View(s):The appeal of tennis in the late 1960s and early 1970s was in the artistic aspects of a player’s stroke making elegance as skill. It was also the tail end of the wooden-racket era. It was not easy to generate power with wooden rackets. Italy’s Nicola Pietrangeli, Rafael Osuna of Mexico, Dennis Ralston of USA and a pack of Australians led by Roy Emerson in men were very attractive and artistic.
Among the ladies, it was Maria Estella Bueno of Brazil. Lea Pericoli of Italy attracted spectatorship. Stroke making skill is an attractive aspect on clay courts. Today, such spectacles will go as slow motion tennis. On clay courts, the salient tactical value is in ball placement to maneuverer the opponent. On hard courts this can be achieve with speed.
Metal and synthetic rackets
Metal and synthetic rackets and asphalt concrete hard courts sent clay court tactics out of the book of tennis 40 years ago. Strangely and in a funny note, I have to say, tennis is trying very hard to slow down the asphalt concrete courts to that of clay courts in speed. Speed of Wimbledon grass courts is slow now using a high hybrid grass and on hard courts, surface treatment is slowing the court.
Paris clay court Grand Slam
Every year Paris Grand Slam is in late May. European cities have run up events from April. Clay court tennis is spectators delight. The slower pace permits to observe the tactical maneuverers to appreciate the artistry of the game.
European clay court is different to what we have in our country. It is burned clay and coal combination. South Americans, Spaniard and eastern Europeans develop their game on this surface and have the best results. The game is physically taxing and demands different mindset tactically. This is Nadal’s home grounds and his trail of success shows how good he was.
Ailing famous trio
In Men’s professional tennis, the last decade was dominated by Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Their decline confirmed. It is age related physical breakdown is the cause. Dominic Theim of Austria and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland two well known players in recent times appeared in two events recently but failed. Even Djokovic is having issues with his anti-vaccine stand. He too appeared but failed to impress.
New Generation
My observation is the new generation of players are consolidating their positions. The last two years were not good for many segments of sports activities. Global and local tennis of all countries had to pay a price. In the Top 10 of professional Men’s ranking, only Djokovic is still there. My reckoning is by the end of the year, Alcaraz of Spain, Ali Assime of Canada, Sinner of Italy, Tsitsipas of Greece, and Zeverv of Germany will hold prominent positions. They are effective, innovative and dominating, however consistent performance is an issue in all of them.
Swiatek, Sabalenka, Badosa
On clay, these players will dominate Women’s tennis in 2022. Compared to women players of 1980s and 1990s, they are very fast in covering the court, hit harder and their game is error free. Which means opponents must hit winners to topple them. Nineteen-year-old Swiatek has settled down to be a player with reliable strokes and tactical capability. Right now, her run of winning four consecutive titles has given her WTA’s No.1 position. Sabalenka of Belarus and Badosa of Spain are her immediate challenges. Often their encounters produce appealing tennis.
Carlos Alcaraz Grafia
Another Spaniard is in the trail of mighty Nadal. Carlos Alcarz is the male version of Swiatek in women. To date him winning the Miami Open and Barcelona title makes him as the youngest ever to do so. Nadal was older when he won these. In fact, Alcaraz appeared suddenly.
Alcarz is six foot and one inch tall. Medium height by today’s standard for a good player. He will do well on European clay courts. Most striking feature in him is his ability to hit winners from every position of the court. Such an ability places his opponents short of target to choose in their shot selection. Even Nadal did not have this ability. Nadal home base is positions behind the base line. Alcaraz is in the court.
Alcaraz’s immediate opponents will be Ali Assime of Canada and Sinner of Italy. They too have winning strait. The last two years have made these two tired. Physical fatigue is a serious issue to young players.
The unexpected
In the early part of the tennis calendar, North American events are the attraction. Indian Wells and Florida saw lot of injuries and health break down in players. No logical explanation came for this. The event in Florida suffered the most. However, there was no effect from the raging war in Europe in North America.
It will not be so in Europe. War is not good for anyone. Europe has a serious threat from the raging war this year. A bad European tennis season will have an effect to global tennis appeal. Already Wimbledon has barred Russian and Belarus players from participation in this year. A move that surprised many. There are many Top 10 ranked players from these two countries. Situation is such I feel, we going into the war at present and getting out of it.
–George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach for German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka, Davis Cup, Federation Cup, coached Top 200 ATP, WTA and ITF Top 50, WhatsApp 0775448880–