2 мин.

Почему синий грунт создает игрокам проблемы?

Выставил мнению Allistair McCaw

 

WHY IS THE BLUE CLAY GIVING PLAYERS SO MUCH TROUBLE?

My thoughts and views from Madrid...

Having been in Madrid the past couple of days and been on the courts, one thing struck me as the possible problem. 

It’s that the amount of clay covering the surface is lesser than normal. If you dig your foot into the surface and remove some of the clay, you will notice that the underlying surface is a hard rubber like mat. When water is sprayed on the surface, it become slippery. This, in my opinion, is what’s causing the main problems. 

Let me say this, the problem is not the fact that the color is blue, even though the change from the traditional brown is quite a shock. Lets not forget the Australian Open changing court color from the green to that bright blue! The players had a lot to say about that too.

If a court is only thinly covered with clay on the entire court or in certain areas, sliding will be difficult, making balance and stability an issue. On the other hand, courts with plenty of clay and a soft feel to the ground will allow players to slide easily and at significant distances across the court with enough momentum generated before the slide.

However, if you watched world number 1 Novak Djokovic today, you would've seen a player that looked like he'd never set foot on clay before. And we all know he's a great mover on any surface.

Another issue thats causing problems, is that clay is being swept onto areas (mostly center area of baseline) and then being watered, causing thicker parts. Therefore we have areas of less and more clay, which causes unpredictability for the players movement.

Lets not forget that there is the green clay as well, mostly in the USA, and this has also a different slide effect.

So in essence, I feel it’s the amount of clay (or limited amount) and the underlying surface that is causing the main issue here, not the color – that’s a mindset thing!

 

Он утверждает что цвет грунта не создает проблемы. И не цвет виноват, а количество грунта, которое мало и не одинаковое по всем частям корта.