Blue Clay

Supertegwyn

Supertegwyn

Hall of Fame
I know a lot of pros complained about the clay, but I've always thought it was really cool and could be an interesting addition to the tour. Instead of replacing red clay you could use it in place of some hard courts. Maybe a really quick slidey blue clay could be used with some 250s and 500s instead of another boring hard court. It might not be the same recipe of clay used in Madrid; perhaps the ATP could test different variants with different speeds / bounces. It would help with injuries (as hard court ruins the body) and it would be a nice halfway point between a super slow clay court and a really quick fast court.

Does anyone else here like blue clay or am I the only weirdo who found it appealing?
 
I liked it. It's better for contrast and leads to a better viewer experience. But traditiontards can't seem to accept any change in the sport.
 
I'm not quite sure if I remember it right but wasn't the main complaint that it was to slippery and players were afraid of injuries ?

I liked it - I can understand the pros though too. If all courts were more different it would make tennis more enjoying to fans that are really into the sport, no doubt.
 
I loved it. Keep in mind that there were NO retirements on the men's side that year. None.

The surface was beautiful, and rewarded aggressive play.
 
I was a big fan.

I thought it was made of the same material as red clay but just with blue dye. It played fast because it was in Madrid and not installed properly and Madrid is at altitude where the ball always travels faster. In theory, it would play the same speed as red clay if installed properly and at the same altitude.

It was great for TV viewing.

But, I would not replace hard court tournaments with blue clay tournaments. That's silly. The last thing we need is to slow the overall game down even more. Most hard courts play slower than 5-10 years ago already and we don't need to take these medium speed tournaments and replace them with slow tournaments. Heck, most ATP players only come to net to shake hands and WTA matches would last forever. If anything speed up the hard court about 2-3%.
 
I loved it, and wish they had stuck with it or that they'd bring it back. I think it would be cool to put it in a different place in the schedule. Madrid doesn't do much to prepare players for the French Open anyway, so they should stick it either in the indoor season, or in the break between Miami and Monte Carlo. Preferably the latter so Roger Bluerer could continue his blue clay dominance.
 
When Djokodal get together for karaoke they always do a duet of Neil Diamond's "Song Sung Blue"!:twisted:

Rogi uncontested GOAT of blue clay!
 
I think it was really cool. If they could iron out the wrinkles and make it less slippery (so players don't risk injury) I would love to see it back.
 
Federer can now be the GOAT of blue clay. LOL. Something Mayonnaise can brag about.
 
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Blue clay can be play however they want it to. It's just in the instance they did use it it they completely messed up the preparation and weren't left with enough time to fix it. It would have been exactly the same playing conditions had they laid a red clay court in the same manner.

I think they should try it again. It looked great imo.
 
Watching matches on blue clay hurt my eyes, but pictures of Rafa are interesting
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I think blue clay is great. It brings more variety to the game if it plays different to red clay. If the players are more prepared for it I am sure they wouldn't mind playing on it.
 
bwongman said:
I think blue clay is great. It brings more variety to the game if it plays different to red clay. If the players are more prepared for it I am sure they wouldn't mind playing on it.
Click to expand...

They should play this on ice - it would bring more variety to the game:
H-hockey-20121209213408146594-600x400.jpg
 
Blue Clay is awesome, but then again, so is carpet.

It's a shame to which extent some players go to keep the homogenized (boring) conditions on tour in order to improve their chances.
 
I feel so bad, I’ve got a worried mind.
I’m so lonesome all the time
Since I left my title behind on blue clay-ay.

Skippin’ Monte Carlo, Skippin’ Rome, safe from that red dust gloam.
Lookin’ forward to happier times on blue clay-ay.
I’m going back some day come what may to blue clay-ay.
Where Rafa slips all day and the GOAT plays on blue clay-ay.

All those grinders with their worn-out soles — If I could only see
them fall from across the net, how happy I’d be.

Go to see Ion Tiriac again
And to be with some of my friends (Anna and Gavin),
Maybe I’d be happy then on blue clay-ay.

I’m going back some day come what may to blue clay-ay.
Where the shotmaking is fine and the trophies are mine on blue clay-ay.
Oh, that Mirka by my side, and at least one more kid.
Oh, some sweet day Rolland Garros will come to Madrid
And it will be blue forever after that day, my dreams come true on blue clay-ay.
 
The blue clay itself was not the problem.
It was the court preparation and condition which actually has little to nothing to do with the color of the clay and almost everything to do with the venue.
Madrid has a history of sub par court conditions.

Of course since Nadal and Djoker lost out early and vowed never to play again they decided to pull the plug on blue clay. Goes to show you what kind of "champions" they are (more like spoiled brat cry babies).
 
I heard unofficiall report at an ATP-event recently that the manufacturer of the Blue Clay made clay in 4 different qualities. The Madrid-event choosed the cheapest clay and the groundsmen stand no chance to make the court to the likings of the players.

I spoked to some players about it and it was so extremely slippery to play on compared to normal red clay. The moist didnt dig into the clay at the same way as normal red european clay and it felt very dry, and when clay dry out, it gets slippery like h€ll.

The Blue Clay can be made to feel exactly like normal red clay. It´s just a matter of money
 
I still maintain that Tiriac should have trolled everybody by keeping the clay exactly the same except for the colour. If anyone whined about it, he could have just thrown up his hands and said "It's not blue anymore! What more do you want?!"
 
Devilito said:
I liked it. It's better for contrast and leads to a better viewer experience. But traditiontards can't seem to accept any change in the sport.
Click to expand...

It was Nadal and Nole who threaten to boycott the tournament in the later years if Madrid doesn't get rid of the blue clay. Ion Tiriac had no choice but to remove the blue clay.
 
Hankenstein said:
I heard unofficiall report at an ATP-event recently that the manufacturer of the Blue Clay made clay in 4 different qualities. The Madrid-event choosed the cheapest clay and the groundsmen stand no chance to make the court to the likings of the players.

I spoked to some players about it and it was so extremely slippery to play on compared to normal red clay. The moist didnt dig into the clay at the same way as normal red european clay and it felt very dry, and when clay dry out, it gets slippery like h€ll.

The Blue Clay can be made to feel exactly like normal red clay. It´s just a matter of money
Click to expand...

It's always a matter of money. :(
 
Murrayfan31 said:
They had one chance to make it work and failed. I don't think they will get another chance.
Click to expand...

I still hope they will bring it back though. It looked beautiful and the contrast with the ball was a lot better. They should first try it at an atp250 tournament, so it can get a better reputation before they let Djoko and Nadal on it again.
 
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