Madrid considering Blue Clay

[paulorenzo]

Originally Posted by 35ft6

Blue clay would be nice. I always thought blue courts, whether indoor carpet or hard, were the easiest on the eyes and allowed you to track the ball easiest.

truee. you remind me of ernest hemmingway.

[yellowoctopus]

Better for the viewers; we can see the ball better.

[jms007]

They should also make the balls orange for blue clay, to get maximum contrast. And ahem...blue balls for natural clay.

[Shaolin]

Tiriac is the man. Finally a clay court where the ball is visible...amazing idea. Kinda weak that his reasoning for the change is color coordination with the sponsor but sometimes good ideas are by accident.

[JediMindTrick]

Originally Posted by atac

The day Nadal wins the U.S. Open will people be saying its played on blue and green clay? Yeah, thats what I thought...

Of course, that's why AO surface is called blue clay, and Wimbledon grass is called green clay, because Nadal is winning on them. Just another way to put down Rafa.

[Leonidas]

Originally Posted by gj011

I thought AO is played on blue clay.

Again and Again. people trying to justify why Nadal won the AO. If the AO is so slow, why didn´t any clay-courter make it to the semi or quarters? why did tsonga make it to the finals in 2008? Stop those posts please

[egn]

I would like to see it does anyone have pictures of it?

[stormholloway]

Blue clay is a great idea. I play on red clay where I live and I have a lot of trouble tracking the ball in comparison to other surfaces. On Har-Tru I find watching the ball much easier.

I haven't heard many sound reasons against the idea.

[JRstriker12]

Just a though - I wonder how the blue clay will affect the ball as it picks up dirt. Guess it won't be any worse than dark green hard-tru.

Also - what are they using to make the clay blue?

Any picts?

[l_gonzalez]

not a fan of the idea. Clay is red and that's the way it should stay. Tiriac should change sponsors instead. Ferrari F1 team is red and they've never had trouble finding sponsors with matching colours.

[tennis-hero]

DAMN

i thought i would be "real" smart and take a dig at Nadal by calling AO blue clay

seems like everyone got to the joke before

[Bassus]

Originally Posted by Leonidas

Again and Again. people trying to justify why Nadal won the AO. If the AO is so slow, why didn´t any clay-courter make it to the semi or quarters? why did tsonga make it to the finals in 2008? Stop those posts please

I thought it was a harmless joke.

There is no denying the greatness of Nadal, or his incredible achievements. And I think he would have been a great champion in any era. No matter how the courts are playing today, everyone is playing the same courts, so Nadal is getting it done while others do not.

But still, you have to admit that Wimbledon has slowed down drastically since the Sampras era ended. And that may be a good thing, as it has allowed for more baseline rallies and less 1-3 shot tennis. Wimbledon got what they wanted, and it has helped Nadal (and maybe Federer too, as he has won all five of his Wimbledons from the baseline...but he did prove he could play S&V tennis when he beat Sampras in 2001).

That is not a knock against Nadal. It's not like they changed the surface specifically to help Nadal. Circumstances came together in such a way that helped Nadal and other baseliners, and he took advantage. That's what great players do.

And blue clay might be interesting, but I like the red stuff just fine. It can be hard to follow the ball at times, but I can usually adjust.

[Patrick_St]

I also like the idea of blue clay. It would make the matches more enjoyable for the fans, and anything that is more enjoyable for the fans is a good thing. It would be interesting to see how it affects the balls though. If it just makes all the balls blue right away, then it would sort of defeat the purpose, no?

[rubberduckies]

Originally Posted by tennis-hero

DAMN

i thought i would be "real" smart and take a dig at Nadal by calling AO blue clay

seems like everyone got to the joke before

This type of thing must happen to you a lot. jk

[Zaragoza]

For those who agree with it because it would make the ball more watchable, I guess you would also agree if Wimbledon switched to blue grass. The ball would be more watchable too.
I have a feeling those who agree with blue clay are not fans of clay tennis in the first place.

[Bloodshed]

They probably decided to put blue clay because they're tired of Nadal winning on Clay surfaces. So it gives an impression to guys like Federer, Djokovic and Murray that they are playing on HC so they think they can play their HC tactics to beat Nadal.

Nothing but visionnary images to the HC specialists.

Haha seriously, I think it will be different and I can't wait to see the results.

[OliverSimon]

Rainbow Clayyyyyy!!!!

[Nadal_Freak]

Originally Posted by Zaragoza

For those who agree with it because it would make the ball more watchable, I guess you would also agree if Wimbledon switched to blue grass. The ball would be more watchable too.
I have a feeling those who agree with blue clay are not fans of clay tennis in the first place.

I love the red color. I also love the blue color. As long as they don't do purple, green, yellow, and etc. I'm fine. I like the sliding and high bounces clay has to offer. You got to admit that the Australian Open has awesome colors though.

[egn]

Originally Posted by Nadal_Freak

I love the red color. I also love the blue color. As long as they don't do purple, green, yellow, and etc. I'm fine. I like the sliding and high bounces clay has to offer. You got to admit that the Australian Open has awesome colors though.

I agree the courts at Australia look gorgeous. It is beautiful to watch tennis on them. All courts should be that color lol.

[Cyan]

Originally Posted by gj011

I thought AO is played on blue clay.

Wimbledon on green clay as well.