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Clay might not inspire in the lay spectator the same sense of grandeur that the lush green lawns do; however, watching tennis on clay is as exhilarating an experience as it is on grass.While grass courts merit the players to possess a strong serve and, at least passable skills at the net, clay calls into service a completely different skill-set. The first word that pops into the head of any serious patron of tennis when the term ‘Clay-Court’ is mentioned is ‘Attrition’.Any professional tennis player who wishes to be successful on clay needs to have boundless patience and most important of all, endurance. He (or she) who endures will succeed on clay.With the clay-court season in full swing, let us take a look at those who have been most successful on this demanding surface. The players mentioned below needn’t all necessarily have been French Open Champions. The yardstick that has been used to tabulate the list is the number of clay-court titles that they have won which is mentioned in the brackets following the players’ name.
#10 Monica Seles (14)
At a time when it seemed like no terrestrial force had the potential to halt the Steffi Graf juggernaut, in came a teenager from Yugoslavia, who not only challenged Grafs domination but even succeeded in realigning the dynamics of womens tennis in the early 1990s.
Monica Seles was a mere 16 years old, when she clasped her hands around her maiden Grand Slam title: The French Open in 1990. It was the first of her three consecutive French Open crowns.
In the years 1990-93, Seles won eight Grand Slam titles, and she hadnt turned 20 yet.
Although, Seless style was highly unorthodox, it was never the less, effective and on clay, her athletic game cobbled with her ability to strike the ball hard made her nigh undefeatable. Graf, Navratilova, Sanchez Vicario, among others could do little but watch Seles tower over the French Open like a veritable colossus.
At the height of hew prowess, Seles became a victim of a Steffi Graf fanatic, Gunther Parche, who stabbed her in Hamburg in the year, 1993. Although Seles came back to add one more Grand Slam to her bag, she never became the redoubtable force that she had been in her early years.
#9 Martina Navratilova (18)
To say Martina Navratilova was vulnerable on any surface would border on sacrilege. The incredibly talented Navratilova was among the best serve-and-volleyers the game has ever seen. Her ability at the net was something that all marvelled at and she was amongst the few players who kept the tradition of playing serve-and-volley on grass courts alive.
Clay, however, was another matter.
Even as she reigned supreme on the lawns of Wimbledon, it was Chris Evert who dictated proceedings on the slower clay courts. At the fear of sounding uncharitable, the slow paced clay courts clearly did not suit a Navrtailova, who relied on her quick serves and her agile game at the net.
However, her many shortcomings on clay notwithstanding, Navratilova did win the singles’ title at Roland Garros on two occasions: 1982 and ’84, which pales into nothingness when held against her record at Wimbledon, where she won nine singles titles.
Navratilova did, however, enjoy far greater success at French Open in the doubles’ circuit. She won seven Roland Garros crowns in the women’s doubles’ and two in the mixed doubles’ category.
#8 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (19)
The former Spanish World Number one was among the most dominant players on clay in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won her first French Open crown, which was also her first Grand Slam title, as a 17-year-old in 1989, when she beat then World Number one and defending champion Steffi Graf in straight sets in the final.
In the years that immediately followed, Monica Seles came to dominate Roland Garros, however, Sanchez showed that she was no flash in the pan by taking her second French Open crown in ’94. She also went on to lift the US Open title that year.
Her last success at a Grand Slam came in 1998, when she sailed to a facile win against Seles in the French Open final.
In all, Sanchez Vicario made it to the finals of the French Open six times, and took the Champion’s Trophy on half of those occasions. Her record on clay is, to put it lightly, formidable. She reached 37 clay-court tournament finals, winning 19 of them.
#7 Mats Wilander (20)
In 1988, Mats Wilander earned one of his rare wins against Ivan Lendl in the final of the US Open to become the first Swede to have etched his name on the crown. It was double delight for Wilander, as he dislodged Lendl from the top to become World Number one for the first time in his career.
Although a terrific player, Wilander too failed to taste success at Wimbledon. However, he was a formidable force on clay, one whom even Lendl rated very highly. He won the French Open crown thrice, in 1982, 85 and 88. In fact, he won three Grand Slams in 1988, a feat that wouldnt be emulated till 2004 by Roger Federer.
In 82, Wilander created history by becoming the first unseeded player to win the French Open.
#6 Ivan Lendl (28)
Eight Grand Slam titles, 94 ATP tour titles and 270 weeks as World Number One. Despite such statistics against his name, Ivan Lendl might just find himself being omitted from the list of the greatest tennis players ever. The reason: His failure to win the crown prize in tennis: Wimbledon.
While tennis fans of the current generation might find it rather hard to believe, the deciding factor against Lendl in Wimbledon was his slightly vulnerable net game, which Boris Becker and Pat Cash managed to exploit in the 1986 and ’87 Wimbledon finals to the optimal extent.
However, few players in the 1980s were as good as Lendl was on clay. Lendl won the French Open thrice, the first time in 1984, before clinching the crown in successive years in ’86 and ’87.
#5 Bjorn Borg (30)
Although the 1970s saw an array of legends, Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe and Guillermo Vilas among them, that decade in tennis will forever be associated with one Swede: Bjorn Borg.
While Borg reigned supreme on Her Majestys laws in Wimbledon for five years (1976-80), his favourite surface was clay. Borg won the French Open crown six times, losing a mere two matches in the event.
At a time when Vilas was widely regarded as the best on the surface, Borg stormed in to dominate the French Open like no other before in the history of the game. Borg won four of his six French Open crowns in a trot between the years, 1978-81.
Up until the arrival of a certain Rafael Nadal, no one grudged Borg the epaulette of the best clay-courtier ever. Nadals records notwithstanding, the history of French Open in the Open Era will always be written with Borg as the absolute marker.
#4 Steffi Graf (32)
At a time when Martina Navratilova looked indestructible, Steffi Graf waltzed into the court to unseat the former from the summit and to ensconce herself there, for all eternity.
With 22 Grand Slam singles’ titles against her name, Graf remains the most successful women’s player (Serena Williams is three shy of her record). Interestingly enough, she won her first ever Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 1987.
In 1987, Graf was seeded second heading into the tournament. Navratilova earned a rare clay-court victory against defending champion Christ Evert, widely acknowledged as the best player on the surface, in the semi-final, to set up a tantalising title clash with Graf.
The final was a gruelling affair, with the deciding set stretching out to fourteen games and Graf prevailed to mark the beginning of Navratilova’s decline. The following year (1988), Graf went on to successfully defend her title in the course of accomplishing a distinction that no tennis player, Rod Laver included, had before: The Golden Slam.
With a strong serve, a vicious backhand slice that played the perfect foil to a powerful forehand, Graf was able to assert her dominance on clay with relative ease.
In all, Graf won the French Open six times, her supremacy at the event being seriously threatened only by another legend: Monica Seles.
#3 Rafael Nadal (46)
When Bjorn Borg, aged 26, unexpectedly called time on his career, to widespread shock, tennis patrons across the globe were convinced that two of his records would stand the test of time: One was his feat of winning five Wimbledon titles on a trot and the other, was his record of six French Open crowns.
32 years down the line, both records have either been emulated or shattered. In 2007, Roger Federer prevailed over Rafael Nadal in a tensely fought Wimbledon final to clinch his fifth straight Wimbledon crown. And in 2012, when Nadal got the better of Novak Djokovic in a lop-sided French Open final, Borg’s record of six Roland Garros had to be effaced from the record books.
In 2005, Nadal enjoyed a 24-match winning streak on clay, beginning his epic journey at the Barcelona Open before capping it off with his maiden French Open title. Over the last ten years, only once has Nadal faltered at Roland Garros, in 2009, when Robin Soderling ousted him in the fourth round.
In the years 2005-2007, Nadal enjoyed a jaw-dropping 81-match winning streak on clay, a record which will definitely take some time to beat.
#2 Guillermo Vilas (49)
Had Guillermo Vilas’s career not overlapped with that of Bjorn Borg, he would have gone down in history as the greatest clay-courtier ever in the history of the game. But, fate, it would seem, dealt him a raw deal and Vilas had to contend himself with a solitary French Open crown.
Although Vilas is regarded as one of the finest clay-court players ever, his career was spent, not much unlike many of his contemporaries’ under the over-arching shadow of Borg’s. Ironically enough, his victory at the French Open in 1977 heralded the beginning of Borg’s domination at Roland Garros. Beginning in 1978, the Swede went on to win four successive French Open titles, taking his overall tally at Roland Garros to six.
However, in 1977, Vilas followed up his success at the French Open, to cap the year off with a win at the US Open, which was played on clay for the last time. Moreover, Vilas registered a 46-match winning streak in the year ’77, a record that stands unbroken till this day.
Borg was Vilas’s scourge. In what was one of the most lop-sided rivalries ever, Borg beat Vilas on 17 of the 22 occasions that the duo clashed. More importantly, Borg won all three meetings between the two in Grand Slam events.
At the moment, Vilas continues to remain the most successful clay court player in the men’s circuit, as Nadal is still three shy of equalling his record.
#1 Chris Evert (70)
If Rafael Nadal is the undisputed King of Clay, then Chris Evert is indubitably the surfaces empress. The American former World Number One, it would seem, shared a seemingly cosmic relationship with the surface.
It is hard not to get overwhelmed by a sense of disbelief when one looks at Everts stunning record on clay. She won a whopping seven titles at Roland Garros. Apart from which, she also pocketed all three US Open tournaments that were played on clay. In a nutshell, her domination on clay was absolute and unparalleled.
Few rivalries are as cherished as the competition between Evert and Navratilova. The duo faced one another across the net in 14 Grand Slam singles finals. Five of those meetings occurred on the lawns of Wimbledon and four on the Parisian dust at Roland Garros.
While Navratilova was unyielding, to put it mildly, on Wimbledon, not losing a single final at The Championships to Evert, the latter was equally dominant on clay. Navratilova got the better of Evert only once in a French Open final.
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