The French Open courts are clay, a difficult floor for some. This is how the professionals do it

The lads’s and ladies’s qualifying rounds of the French Open began Monday, culminating a season {of professional} tennis on a floor that is notoriously difficult to compete on: clay.

The court docket at Roland-Garros, the stadium the place the French Open is held, is a five-layer sandwich of varied stones and coal residue, topped off with a skinny layer of crimson brick mud. The combination might be unstable, as it will probably shift underfoot. By comparability, exhausting courts have a resin or acrylic prime coat that gives an excellent floor. Grass has a rougher texture that provides the ball a decrease bounce.

However any athlete who makes it to the French Open is “a phenomenal tennis player at that point” and learns to adapt to clay, stated Steve Johnson, a retired tennis professional who has performed in 10 French Open tournaments. NPR spoke with him and two gamers competing on this yr’s French Open about how they’ve navigated the ruddy terrain over their careers.

Marta Kostyuk

As a junior participant, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine carried out nicely on clay courts. She had extra endurance, however she was additionally much more inflexible in her method to the sport, she stated, which did not bode as nicely as soon as she superior to the professionals.

“I would set myself to play [a] certain way, and I basically wouldn’t change it,” she stated.

So she’s needed to study to be extra versatile. In spite of everything, clay is finicky. It shrinks and expands, so every step and bounce can really feel completely different from one other, she stated.

Clay season can also be brief. It is a collection of tournaments that runs from late March to early June — a pair months out of the complete season, which is usually allotted to exhausting courts. So it may be exhausting to get into the groove, Kostyuk stated.

It additionally would not assist that every clay court docket has its personal DNA. For instance, Madrid’s court docket is at a better altitude, with thinner air that provides the ball much less resistance.

“So the balls are just flying,” she stated.

Her mom, Talina Beiko, performed professionally and made positive Kostyuk practiced commonly on clay. The courts at Roland-Garros have a heavier consistency, like those she grew up taking part in on.

“It’s a very real clay court, the proper one for me,” Kostyuk stated.

Kostyuk’s adaptability has paid off. In a span of three weeks, she received back-to-back clay tournaments in Madrid and Rouen, France, launching her from the twenty eighth to the fifteenth finest feminine singles participant on this planet on the Girls’s Tennis Affiliation’s rating.

Steve Johnson

Crimson would be the clay of selection for a number of professional tournaments, nevertheless it’s not the one variety.

Crimson clay is extra naturally out there in Latin America and Europe than it’s within the U.S., so clay courts within the U.S. usually tackle one other consistency and hue, inexperienced.

“It’s a little bit more fine, it’s a little bit more slippery than the red clay,” Johnson, the retired professional, stated. “So it gives you somewhat of the feeling that you’re on red clay, because you can move and slide, but the footing is not there.”

It will probably take gamers from the U.S., like Johnson, slightly time to regulate to crimson clay. In Johnson’s earlier taking part in days, that might imply three or 4 tournaments. However with expertise, that window dwindled to per week or two, he stated.

“As a young pro, you sometimes feel as if you need to rethink the wheel a little bit based on the new surfaces that you play,” he stated.

However taking part in on clay normally meant no less than making a couple of tweaks to his approach, he stated. Clay slows the ball down, which gives extra time to reply to a shot. So Johnson would possibly “wrongfoot” somebody — stepping into a unique path than your opponent is anticipating. He would possibly play extra aggressively, he stated, or change up his protection model.

Clay can also be very delicate to climate variations. The feel might be firmer on a dark, cool day, and looser on a sizzling day, Johnson stated.

“It feels like you’re playing two completely different tournaments,” he stated.

Hailey Baptiste

Hailey Baptiste is a 24-year-old American ranked the twenty fifth finest participant on this planet in ladies’s singles by the WTA. She additionally stated it is uncommon for younger U.S. athletes to play on crimson clay courts. However there have been two on the tennis membership she practiced at in suburban Maryland when she was youthful.

Not solely did she get an early begin with clay, nevertheless it’s her favourite floor.

“I really enjoy sliding around,” Baptiste says. “I feel like it’s easier, almost, because you can just kind of let your weight go when you stop, rather than having to take a ton of adjustment steps all the time on hard court.”

Baptiste stated she has sturdy quadriceps, making it simpler to manage herself on slides, a vital software to remain balanced, decelerate and reset on clay surfaces.

Final yr, she made it to the fourth spherical of girls’s singles on the French Open, and the primary spherical of doubles. She’s up for doubles once more this yr.

She’ll doubtless speak technique along with her companion nearer to the match, however she would not plan on reinventing that wheel Johnson spoke of. Plus, she’s paired with somebody who has dominated all forms of courts — Venus Williams.

“Every time I play tournament, I’m playing to win the tournament,” Baptiste stated.