Is Indian Wells a real-life test of Federer's ability to play on clay ?

robert.s

Professional
Everything seems in slow motion on Chatrier compared to any HC out there. Only thing that feels fast is when the ball hits the racquet head. Which counts for about the 50th part of a second.
 

robert.s

Professional
Not to mention that if you stay 3-5m behind the baseline on clay and you force your joints with slides, the court is slow enough and the bounce is so high that you could potentially reach any ball that is not the outcome of a wondershot. And the repetitive attempts to hit wondershots is the shortest road to 30+ UFOs a match. Which is why it is not a good idea to compare clay with HC. There's no sliding on HC unless you love blisters or your name is peak Djokovic. This takes away a lot of the last effort shots great clay courters put into play on clay, basically increasing the odds that an attacking player will make an error having to play several high risk shots in quick succession.
 

limmt

Rookie
The most important point is not the speed of the court on clay.

It's the bounce. Roger is hitting his shots so early, that he will miss a lot of shots, due to the random bounce, touching the ball with the frame of the racquet, like he used to much more with the 90 on the BH side.
 
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