5 things to look forward to this clay court season
By and large, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams’s dominance in tennis hasn’t been challenged in 2015. While Serena is yet to be defeated this year, Djokovic, despite having suffered two losses this season, has been nothing short of imperious. However, with the clay court season all set to commence with the Monte Carlo Masters next week, tennis fans might want to brace themselves for surprises, which clay has an inveterate penchant for throwing plenty of. Rafael Nadal has looked nowhere near his best this season, but the gritty Spaniard, who has a seemingly cosmic relationship with clay, will look to arrest his decline over the course of the next two months. While Djokovic has occasionally challenged Nadal on what is the latter’s favourite surface, the Spaniard remains the best player on clay by a fair distance. French Open defending champion Maria Sharapova, who has had a mixed season so far, too will look to regain her best form before heading to Paris. Let us take a look at five things that we can look forward to as the curtains are all set to raise on the 2015 clay court season.
#1 Rafael Nadal\'s revival
Rafael Nadal is having a horrid season. After going down to Tomas Berdych in the quarter-final of the Australian Open, where he seemed to be unwell, he has gone on to win just one title this season, the Argentina Open at Buenos Aires. Incidentally, even this victory came on his favourite surface. Moreover, Nadal has also failed in arresting his downward slide in the ATP rankings, where he has now dropped to the fifth spot.
With the onset of the clay court season, his fans will expect to see Nadal not only regain his form but his confidence as well, which at the moment seems to be at an all-time low. If history is any proof, then Nadal has shown the uncanny knack of shaking off sluggish starts to the season when the clay court season commences and resuscitating his spirits.
In 2013, after recovering from an injury that had laid him low for 222 days, Nadal came back strongly to win six titles, five of which were played on clay before rounding it off with a win at the French Open.
Nadal overcame both Djokovic and Andy Murray, currently ranked number one and three respectively to win the French Open last year. While the Serb has had some success against Nadal on clay, Murray, despite encountering the Spaniard five times on the surface, is yet to best him.
Nadal has won the Monte Carlo masters a record 8 times, and even enjoyed a 46-match winning streak at the event which was snapped by Djokovic in 2013. Heading into Monte Carlo next week, not only will Nadal look to reaffirm himself as the best player on clay, but will keep a wary eye on the ATP rankings, which he will seek to improve.