| How to Win on Clay | |
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When it takes more shots to win a point, the value of consistency increases. If you play someone who blasts away at the ball, getting the ball back to her two or three times is likely to make her finally miss. On clay, you'll have more time to get her hardest shots, and by using the following strategies, your consistency will outlast her power:
- Try for everything. One of the reasons Arantxa Sanchez Vicario won three French Opens was her absolute determination to run down every ball. This has two beneficial effects: You give your opponent one more chance to miss, and you often tempt her to go for too big a shot the next time.
- Get in shape. Consistency depends upon stamina. If you get too tired to get to a ball, you can't get it in.
- Hit deep. Even on clay, giving your opponent a short ball is bad news. If you're quick, you'll be able to run down almost anything -- as long as your opponent is hitting from at least as deep as her baseline.
- Lob your way out of trouble. If you're pulled way out of position, send up a high, deep lob. This will give you plenty of time to get back in position, and it's not at all easy for your opponent to put a bounced overhead away from deep in her court, especially on clay.
- Use topspin to enhance your consistency. Clay gives you more time to set up for a long upward swing at the ball, so you'll find that you can execute your topspin shots more easily. Topspin will allow you to hit with a safer margin over the net, and it will also cause less deceleration of the ball when it hits your opponent's court, giving her less time to get your shot.
While slowness is clay's most important characteristic, slipperiness is next. Here are a few ways to adapt:
- Hit behind your opponent. Get him running in one direction, then hit to the area he's just leaving. He'll have a hard time getting enough traction to reverse direction.
- Learn to slide into your shots. This takes some practice, and you want to start gently, because sliding the wrong way can easily turn an ankle. One important tip is to keep your front foot pointed somewhat into the direction of your slide. It's the one that's likely to catch in the clay and suffer a turned ankle. The back foot can afford to be sideways, because it will skip over any catches in the clay instead of getting jammed into them.
- Expect to need better serves and approach shots for success at the net. Your opponent will have more time to set up on his passing shot or lob, and you'll have less traction to make sudden cuts toward the ball. Serve-and-volley players have typically had a tough time on clay.
Tennis is one of the very few ball sports that has several distinct varieties based upon the surface on which it's played. Take advantage of that variety by playing on different surfaces and forcing yourself to develop a more adaptable game. Many of the virtues you will learn from playing on clay, such as patience, consistency, and using combinations of shots, will help you on every surface.
Additional Resources:
Is Your Court Positioning Worth a Million?
The 24(?) Types of Tennis Balls
How to Beat Four Major Player Types
