The tennis rankings show a snapshot of the best players in the world at any one time. Delve a little below the surface of the tennis rankings and they begin to reveal a little more about the makeup of all the best players. Peter Sutton from Clay Court Services’ claims that clay courts are crucial if the LTA are to produce players who ascend to the top of the men’s and women’s rankings.
Breaking down the rankings.
Let’s consider the top 200 in the world and their nationalities. 18 of the top 200 are Italian, 14 are French , 14 are Spanish and 10 from Argentina. All these countries have a rich tradition of clay courts and clay courts are most prevalent. Even the women’s game follows a similar pattern with 5 of the top 200 French, 6 Spanish players. And how many from the UK? Only 3 at the present moment. So the facts are that players who are grounded and develop on the clay seem to ascend to the top of the game a little easier.
Sutton claims that this is no coincidence and bringing more clay courts to these shores must be the aim of the LTA. Even at the next Grand Slam Roland Garros, Kyle Edmund ranked 23 and Johanna Konta who made the Italian Open final are outsiders for the French Open title. According to an interview at Betway, players who are grounded and develop on the clay seem to ascend to the top of the game a little easier.
Changing the Culture
From an educational point of view there are many merits from learning on a slow surface like clay. A child who learns on a slow surface has more time to perfect shots and get the racket in position to hit a good ball. In the UK there is a cultural misnomer that clay courts are not suited to the UK. Perhaps tennis has always been associated with the glorious grass of Wimbledon.
Clay courts are soft under foot, good for the joints and aid in rally length. Compare that to a traditional hard court in public parks, the hard surface is sore on the body, the ball bounces higher and rallies are generally over in the blink of an eye. Clay courts allow players to develop the skills of building and winning points. Power is less of an advantage on clay courts and skills of patience and shot production are all developed naturally.
A clay court Future?
At the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, the LTA have installed four brand new clay courts so that the best players in the game can hone their clay court game. This of course is a start but more clay courts are needed to further provide the facilities to growing these well grooved and rounded players. Who knows in a few years the next batch of players may be clay courters. The LTA can determine this and who knows there could be a Roland Garros champion from these shores.
Peter Sutton interview with Betway, May 2019.
https://blog.betway.com/tennis/why-this-italian-clay-could-help-mould-britains-next-tennis-star/
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