Blue clay at Madrid this year

BevelDevil · Mar 6, 2012

Should be easier for spectators to see the ball, but Nadal and Fed don't like the change.

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/01/sport/tennis/tennis-madrid-blue-clay/index.html

(The news is a few months old, but I didn't find any references on TW.)

Nathaniel_Near · Mar 6, 2012

I'm really looking forward to that tournament, the new surface colour is an exciting change and an exciting new look!

Hood_Man · Mar 6, 2012

I voted whatever. As long as it's only one tournament they can do what they want, at least they chose a nice shade of blue.

A few years ago this would have been a better idea when TV was still in Standard Definition, but now with HD it's not even that hard to find an online stream that lets you see the ball clearly.

It'll be interesting to see.

Murrayalmagrofan · Mar 6, 2012

I'm with the whatever crowd...

Mustard · Mar 6, 2012

Stick with red.

Larrysümmers · Mar 6, 2012

i vote there needs to be more colored surfaces.

kishnabe · Mar 6, 2012

The red is classic....seeing Blue is just a turn off!

tennis_pro · Mar 6, 2012

I say let's give it a try. They can always change it back to red.

celoft · Mar 6, 2012

Nathaniel_Near said:
I'm really looking forward to that tournament, the new surface colour is an exciting change and an exciting new look!

Thinking Federer might win here.

Nathaniel_Near · Mar 6, 2012

celoft said:
Thinking Federer might win here.

Nah. The ATP are rigging his draws! He'll get a bunch of clay specialists and high rank in form players. :-|

celoft · Mar 6, 2012

Nathaniel_Near said:
Nah. The ATP are rigging his draws! He'll get a bunch of clay specialists and high rank in form players. :-|

Federer's done better in Madrid than in IW/Miami in the past 3 years.

Nathaniel_Near · Mar 6, 2012

celoft said:
Federer's done better in Madrid than in IW/Miami in the past 3 years.

I know, I was joking. I think he has a good chance to win the Madrid 1000, in fact it's probably going to be his best chance to win a 1000 event before RG.

celoft · Mar 6, 2012

Nathaniel_Near said:
I know, I was joking. I think he has a good chance to win the Madrid 1000, in fact it's probably going to be his best chance to win a 1000 event before RG.

Agree...............................

pound cat · Mar 6, 2012

Here's what various blue clay couts look like

http://www.google.ca/search?tbm=isc...5.2001l5913l0l8904l10l10l0l1l1l0l64l306l9l9l0

pound cat · Mar 6, 2012

They could have chosen Maroon or yellow clay see article below

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_court

Biscuitmcgriddleson · Mar 6, 2012

Black clay would have been awesome. I still want to see a black indoor hard court.

Hood_Man · Mar 6, 2012

Black clay would look cool, but with that stuff flying up all over the place in long rallies with the ball bounces and skids etc, a slow motion montage might look like the beach landing from Saving Private Ryan.

14OuncesStrung · Mar 6, 2012

Come on guys, this is old news.
THERE WILL NEVER BE BLUE CLAY.

wimble10 · Mar 6, 2012

great article. I say stay with red.

stormholloway · Mar 6, 2012

I mean, they changed most hard courts to blue, what's the difference in change clay to blue? The days of natural surfaces are over. Most are made of cement. Paint them whatever you want.

kishnabe · Mar 6, 2012

Hood_Man said:
Black clay would look cool, but with that stuff flying up all over the place in long rallies with the ball bounces and skids etc, a slow motion montage might look like the beach landing from Saving Private Ryan.

Black clay with the old fashioned while balls would be cool.

heftylefty · Mar 6, 2012

kishnabe said:
Black clay with the old fashioned while balls would be cool.

That would be pretty sweet!! Even a Black HardCourt with white balls.

West Coast Ace · Mar 6, 2012

I'm in the 'try it once' camp and respect Tiriac for thinking outside the box - the traditionalists can go pound. Should be easier to see the ball on TV.

raphMODE · Mar 6, 2012

With a clay court looking like a hardcourt, Federer has a chance to beat Nadal

–

Pidgeon · Mar 7, 2012

makes me think of the neon court in topspin 4

Rock Strongo · Mar 7, 2012

I hope they mess up the composition of it and it turns REALLY REALLY fast, just to throw everyone off meaning Llodra will win his first Masters 1000 title.

Bobby Jr · Mar 7, 2012

Hood_Man said:
I voted whatever. As long as it's only one tournament they can do what they want, at least they chose a nice shade of blue.

A few years ago this would have been a better idea when TV was still in Standard Definition,..

I agree. If they want to try something new, why not?

The HD TV thing doesn't seem to solve it a whole lot imo. I think pre-broadcast factors play a bigger role - camera, lighting, post-production etc. I was watching the Mexico tournament last week, in HD on a 52 inch screen and the ball was way harder to spot compared to Dubai.

It'll be odd seeing player's socks all clogged up with blue clay though.

vive le beau jeu ! · Mar 7, 2012

Rock Strongo said:
I hope they mess up the composition of it and it turns REALLY REALLY fast, just to throw everyone off meaning Llodra will win his first Masters 1000 title.

what secret ingredient do you suggest to add to the composition in order to do that ?

Paul Murphy · Mar 7, 2012

I think the blue looks terrific - it can be tough to see some of the lines on the red clay courts - it looks like the blue may make it easier.

aphex · Mar 7, 2012

vive le beau jeu ! said:
what secret ingredient do you suggest to add to the composition in order to do that ?

Dibs on super 8 movie poster!
You can have 9mm or 9 1/2 weeks after that.
I'll then have 10 (with bo derek)
Then you get ocean's 11
and after that I get 12 angry men

deal?

Leelord337 · Mar 7, 2012

i voted to stick with red at the french, nothing like all that red clay all over the socks/shorts of players..dirtballers

now madrid on clay would be pretty neat, would bring the feel of that old madrid indoor masters on blue hardcourts back

vive le beau jeu ! · Mar 7, 2012

aphex said:
Dibs on super 8 movie poster!
You can have 9mm or 9 1/2 weeks after that.
I'll then have 10 (with bo derek)
Then you get ocean's 11
and after that I get 12 angry men

deal?

damned !
i couldn't see what was actually displayed, but i should be more careful with picture insertion bugs since the regretable 'chocolate incident' some years ago...

(but apart from zagor, malakas and drakulie, does anybody else know about it ?...)

pound cat · Mar 7, 2012

Hood_Man said:
Black clay would look cool, but with that stuff flying up all over the place in long rallies with the ball bounces and skids etc, a slow motion montage might look like the beach landing from Saving Private Ryan.

Imagine how the players will look with blue clay on their body as the match progresses. This makes Federer sad just thinking about it.

The Bawss · Mar 7, 2012

Blue clay looks awesome BUT if they made clay blue then about 90% of tennis matches would be played on blue courts as pretty much all hardcourts are now blue. They should change up the colour of the hardcourts, green, red, blue purple, whatever and make clay blue.

Telepatic · Mar 7, 2012

ao courts still looks better.

GasquetGOAT · Mar 7, 2012

Blue clay is a nice change up but hope they make it play as fast as blue hardcourt.

wimble10 · Mar 7, 2012

Well Nadal and Federer are against it. I wonder how the rest of the field feels. They should let the players decide.

syc23 · Mar 7, 2012

Black would have been awesome.

laughingbuddha · Mar 7, 2012

Transparent clay and invisible balls.

Rock Strongo · Mar 7, 2012

I thought of fluprescent astroturf with white balls, combined with UV lighting. It wouldn't be a tennis match, more of a rave!

wimble10 · Mar 7, 2012

Rock Strongo said:
I thought of fluprescent astroturf with white balls, combined with UV lighting. It wouldn't be a tennis match, more of a rave!

and no lights

Rock Strongo · Mar 7, 2012

wimble10 said:
and no lights

And there would be techno music in between points, and lasers during the changeovers!

stormholloway · Mar 7, 2012

GasquetGOAT said:
Blue clay is a nice change up but hope they make it play as fast as blue hardcourt.

This is just dumb.

ledwix · Mar 7, 2012

The color looks cool and fresh. I say it's a good move, as long as Roland Garros stays red.

vive le beau jeu ! · Mar 7, 2012

Rock Strongo said:
I thought of fluprescent astroturf with white balls, combined with UV lighting. It wouldn't be a tennis match, more of a rave!

Rock Strongo said:
And there would be techno music in between points, and lasers during the changeovers!

a bit something like this, you mean ?

http://enveeapparel.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/sony-ericsson-night-tennis/

laughingbuddha · Mar 7, 2012

vive le beau jeu ! said:
a bit something like this, you mean ?

http://enveeapparel.wordpress.com/2008/03/05/sony-ericsson-night-tennis/

that is no tennis court.

elpolaco84 · Mar 7, 2012

what do you think its going to happen if Nadal loses early in Madrid?

raphMODE · Mar 7, 2012

elpolaco84 said:
what do you think its going to happen if Nadal loses early in Madrid?

Well... it would OBVIOUSLY be because of this new blue clay he was against

–

MichaelNadal · Mar 7, 2012

^I thought I heard somewhere he was skipping Madrid?

SStrikerR · Mar 7, 2012

blue = not clay. It's just weird.

Blue clay at Madrid this year

Should clay-court tournaments switch to blue clay?

Yes, go blue.

No, stick with red.

whatever

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