From Paris to London: What makes the transition from clay to grass so difficult in tennis?

It’s that time of the year when we have dusted away the crushed red brick of Roland Garros and await eagerly the freshly mowed pristine lawns at Wimbledon.

The surfaces in tennis – there are over 160 of them recognised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) – are all man-made, yet in clay and grass, the primary elements that make them are provided directly by nature. For this reason, French Open and Wimbledon are unique and, because of their history and tradition, special.

Yet for decades, many men and women have searched without much success the answer to master both the surfaces, to win the French Open and Wimbledon. And, only 11 (seven women and four men) have been able to accomplish the feat – known as the Channel Slam – in the same year in half a century of tennis in the Open Era.

The French-Wimbledon double

“It’s a lot tougher when you come from clay to grass than you go from grass to clay,”says Zeeshan Ali, 48, who’s played in the men’s singles event in Wimbledon, 1989.

The grass to clay transition is perhaps non-existent today, for most players, after Wimbledon, rest and get back to the hard courts in preparation for the year’s last Grand Slam – the US Open. But the change from clay to grass, players find it tough to adapt to because of several factors.

The primary of them is time. Players, for a long time, didn’t get enough of it to prepare for the oldest Grand Slam. There was a gap of just two weeks from the end of French Open to the beginning of Wimbledon. Only in 2015, Wimbledon decided to move back a week in the calendar, allowing a breather for those who have toiled till the last few days of the clay season.

Andy Murray, in 2016, reached the final of Roland Garros for the first time and won his second Wimbledon title. He said about the extra allowance of time to prepare for grass: “It makes a huge difference. Just a bit more time to adapt to the courts and let your body get used to playing on grass again. [Before], literally, sometimes it was like one or two days. I mean, it was ridiculous, looking back at it, really.”

Different moves for different surfaces

The players in a short span are required to readjust their movement on court.

“While on clay, you are moving side-to-side on the court. But on grass, since you need to go to the net, you have to work on your forward-backward movement,” says former India Davis Cup coach Nandan Bal.

The sideward runs on clay have to do with the surface’s high bounce and its slowness. The ball, after contacting the clay, loses its velocity and undergoes an increase in spin, which influences the ball to shoot upwards. Because of this, the drops – except the super-deceiving ones – don’t work as well as they do on grass. The volleys aren’t effective either. So, the act of rushing to the net isn’t a profitable venture. Which is why, on clay, we often see players trying to wear each other down with top-spin laden shots from the baseline. Which is why Rafael Nadal, who can’t be worn down, has routinely won the French Open.

“On grass, more players use under-spin than topspin because the ball tends to slide. In the evening matches, when there’s a little bit of a dew factor, it slides even more,” explains Bal.

The slide off the grass make the balls quicker, bounce lower and tougher to get to. The rally-duration reduces. Volleys and drops become ubiquitous at Wimbledon along with strawberries and cream. Rushing to the net reaps rewards. So, the forward-backward movement gains relevance here.

There are also the physical adjustments that a player has to make after getting to the ball.

“While on grass, you need to kick your feet up. You can’t slide on grass, you’ll hurt your ankle,” says Bal. “You see people like Kim Clijsters, who used to do that but that’s the rarest of cases. The last four years, they have special grass court shoes that have pimpled soles as opposed to clay court shoes that are fairly flat. Those pimples help you keep your balance on grass.”

Because the ball bounces low on grass, Bal adds, it’s a little tougher on the legs and the back.

Changes after 2001

His compatriot, Zeeshan, says the Wimbledon surface on which he played in 1989 and the one on which he practiced two years ago have a helluva difference.

“Grass is now a lot thicker, which make it slower. I don’t know if they have done anything to the surface but the bounce is a little higher now than it used to be. I remember when I’d played at Wimbledon, if you have a good slice, the ball will literally sit after landing. But when I practiced there two years ago, the bounce was a lot higher.”

Ali felt this difference because he wasn’t even playing on the same type of grass anymore. Wimbledon, until 2001, used moist grass (a mixture of hard ryegrass and fine fescue) that supported the serve-and-volley style of play. Then, starting in 2001, the club used exclusively a hard ryegrass that aided more rallies, which, Ali and Bal concur, has made the game more spectator-friendly.

Tim Henman, one of the sport’s last exclusive serve-and-volleyers, had acknowledged this dramatic change in conditions in a ESPN article in 2006. “On a grass court, before it was about serving and volleying on both [service] balls. You can count on one hand, I’m sure, how many times I serve and volley [now],” he said.

Ali says the difference is literally visible. “In the finals or the semi-finals 20-25 years ago, the courts have no grass on the serving area and just behind the service line [near the centre of the court]. Those areas will be completely worn out. And, there would be grass all around. Now, if you look at the courts, there’d absolutely be no grass on the baseline, but the rest of the court would be lush green. It’s because the players aren’t going to the net as much as they used to – they don’t because they know they’re gonna get passed.”

Because of this change in nature of the surface at Wimbledon, it’s made it easier even for a chronic claycourter to survive on grass. Nadal, who struggled on grass in his first few tournaments, adapted so well to it that he became the second man after Bjorn Borg to win the Channel Slam twice (in 2008 and 2010).

“If Nadal were to play on grass 20-22 years ago, he would really struggle hard to get past the first couple of rounds,” says Ali.

This Wimbledon, however, he’ll be among the favourites again to stop Roger Federer from getting his ninth title. But the clay season, albeit extremely successful (routine for Nadal), was a little rigorous for him. He chose to withdraw from the Queen’s Club championships to recuperate for Wimbledon. Since 2011, he hasn’t gone past the fourth round at the All England Club.

Can he be fully fit? Can he, without much practice, head to the second week at Wimbledon? Can he set up another dream final with Federer? Can he, once again, conquer clay and grass in the same year?