The Debacle of Blue Clay: Used Once and Never Again

ah tennis the sport with the history so rich and old to make anyone think twice about ever changing any fundamental aspect of the game we know how it goes there are three court surfaces grass courts commonly associated with olden tennis and still used professionally throughout Europe in the summer months there are clay courts the most widely used surface throughout the world with slight variance in color and texture and of course the tried-and-true hard courts most likely found at your local park in high school due to the lack of maintenance needed for its use it's also simple so what the hell is this before all the controversy and threats of boycotting by the sport's biggest stars all of this started as an idea in the mind of this man Ian thid II AK fiddy AK a billionaire business mogul is the owner of the Madrid open a premier professional tennis tournament which attracts the biggest names in tennis before his venture into business though fiddy AK had a colorful sports past as an international child table tennis champion eventually becoming a member of the Romanian Olympic ice hockey team and finally settled as a professional tennis player winning the 1970 French Open doubles with former GRA ilie Nastase by all means the Romanian loved to push boundaries and set new heights for both himself and whatever venture he threw himself into despite his successful main career in banking he stayed invested in tennis throughout his life serving as a professional coach manager agent committee president and eventually in 2009 became the owner and organizer of the Madrid Open transforming the tournament from a hardcore end-of-the-year event to the red clay spectacle that defines the European tennis swing every spring the change was an instant success and everyone was perfectly happy and content with the way things turned out almost everyone that is you see around this time the worldwide tennis landscape was changing literally when watching tennis on TV many find it hard to keep track of the tiny yellow ball flying across a similarly coloured court so in 2005 the US Open in New York City one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world changed colors from its trademark green to instantly the sport became easier to watch on television and the reception was positive following sue the Australian Open another main event pulled a similar move in 2008 changing colors from green to blue in the midst of court renovations 2007 saw the move from green to purple and Miami bred courts in Bogota in 2013 and somehow this is still a thing suddenly tennis wasn't so monochromatic and this early 2000s hardcore color Renaissance caught the attention of mr. 30 AK who in 2012 was looking for ways to make his tournament more interesting on TV this would it be the first time as in 2004 he decided to replace all teenage ball kids with adult fashion models a change that didn't go down well at the time undeterred by the fact that his tournament was held on clay courts and not hard courts the idea of blue clay was born to quickly explain the science required for the change normal red clay used that almost every single european clay court event is composed of crushed red bricks scattered across courts and two separate layers according to fiddy AK the blue clay used in 2012 was identical to red clay the only difference being that during manufacturing the naturally occurring iron oxide that creates the normal red color was stripped from the crushed brick creating a bleached white powder blue dyes then used to complete the process reportedly this change in color costs that he act double what red clay is normally purchased for an expense he held was worth the extra cost so you have a positive shift in public perception towards color tennis courts a tournament willing to put down extra funds to create a better viewing experience for fans and a billionaire tennis fanatic using his time and resources to make sure it all comes together what could go wrong well how much time you got to start since the ideas inception in 2011 blue clay found little support among the players with Federer saying keep the red clay obviously those kind of things grass doesn't become orange it would all be strange soon enough though the blue clay was ratified for use as a permanent feature starting with the 2012 edition of the Madrid Open upon the announcement Nadal tweeted it's a shame because of the history and tradition of the surface I hope I don't have to play one day on blue grass vide AK though was convinced that once the pair play tested the surface they would be converted saying as far as Nadal and Federer they are great tennis players and great human beings I respect their opinion but I don't have to accept everything one player says eventually judgement day came when players arrived in Madrid to begin the tournament and already things began to fall apart despite the Madrid opens popularity in recent years one issue that have repeatedly dogged the tournament where it's soft and uneven courts due to poorly installed drainage systems allowing water to unevenly flow after rain and waterings the blue clay suffered the exact same issues but with more severity as a combination of heavy rain and heat waves prior to opening day all but baked the clay base into a service that was much harder than it should have been adding to this salt laid down on top of the courts to keep moisture away and retain color ended up crystallizing into an unbreakable film due to the extreme weather making traction while sliding almost impossible and creating conditions similar to that of a slip and slide this became extremely apparent after world number 2 Rafael Nadal's opening wind saying the surface doesn't feel comfortable it's complicated very slippery it's difficult to keep your balance I hope that next year they change it number one-ranked novak djokovic shared the same thoughts after he dropped a set in his opening match stating not a single player not a woman not a man I didn't hear anyone say I like blue clay the courts clearly favored offensive players such as Roger Federer as those who stuck around the baseline and moved less found the issues much less apparent this is a contradiction to what clay is normally known for typically giving the advantage to defensive players whose game revolves around longer slower points tempers rose to a fever pitch when Rafael Nadal Novak Djokovic were knocked out in the third round and quarterfinals respectively a stark departure from the previous year where they had faced off in the final the semi finals on blue clay proved what many had already assumed with four offensive heavy-hitting baseliners making it to the final four blue clay had fundamentally changed what made clay clay it wasn't just a color change it was a change in how a tennis match had to be played to win even after Federer lifted the first and only blue clay trophy to probably ever exist he still went on to say it is tough to move but you just get on with it and try to make the best out of it to the surprise of absolutely no one weeks later the Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP banned blue clay for all 2013 events a decision met with unanimous praise by all players and industry leaders Nadal would go on to win the 2013's title on red clay and he and Djokovic would eventually win five of the next seven Madrid titles while Federer has never made it to the finals since the Year clay was blue so will we ever see blue clay again or any other strangely colored non hardcourt surface tennis is no stranger to gimmicks and stunts designed to draw in viewers and changing court color is no different while I'm sure we'll witness some interesting changes to how tennis is played going forward there's no doubt that many won't forget that fateful year Aeon City AK had the balls to turn red clay blue

Channel: CULT TENNIS

Views: 5,140,860

Rating: 4.8680282 out of 5

Keywords: tennis blue clay, blue tennis surface, 2012 madrid open, madrid open blue clay, tennis video essay, worst tennis match ever, red clay vs, blue clay tennis court, federer vs berdych, nadal blue clay, federer blue clay, tennis documentery, madrid open tennis, worst tennis points, history of tennis, cult tennis, nadal vs verdasco, djokovic vs tipsarevic, djokovic lose, nadal lose, clay court tennis tournament, madrid tennis, tennis highlights, 2012 tennis, ion tiriac

Id: IihBn_3LYXk

Length: 7min 45sec (465 seconds)

Published: Thu May 07 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Kizoja]

TL:DW: Blue clay was banned from being used because both red and blue clay suffer issues from weather like rain and heat waves causing the clay to bake, blue clay uses salt making the issue worse. Blue clay uses dye to achieve its color, red clay does not use dye. They needed to use salt with the blue clay to keep moisture away to maintain the color. The salt caused the surface to become slippery in combination with the rain and heat waves baking the clay.

The video does a pretty bad job at emphasizing this over the heat and rain and distinguishing the main reason that separates the two clays apart being the salt. It glosses over it in two words.

I have no idea if salt is used in red clay to prevent the shared issues from rain/moisture that both types of clay have or not, but the video only mentions salt being used in relation to maintaining color so that seems to be the only stand out feature that caused the blue clay to have more problems.

Edit 2: /u/xaanthar comments with an article stating red clay uses salt in Paris. If Madrid normally uses salt or the same amount of salt in red clay as they did in blue clay then, yeah, it seems the video fails to answer the question everyone seems to be left with about how is it blue clay's fault and not just clay's fault in general.

[u/thtanner]

YouTube has been trying to shove this video down my throat for weeks!

[u/Tex-Rob]

If you want a glimpse into YouTube's algorithm, look no further than the videos posted here the day after they are promoted on YT. I too was recommended this video and watched it yesterday. Odd though, as I don't look at any other tennis stuff these days.

[u/nestorishere]

This is pretty much an irl example of a game company forcing a meta change and players whined about it enough so the company revert the change lol

[u/Lazverinus]

tl;dw Blue clay is too slippery compared to standard red clay.

I hope this saves someone 7 minutes of their life.

[u/RJD-ghost]

It feels weird to here clay is the most popular surface in the world. I’ve been all over the place and only seen clay courts once.

[u/LeonimuZ]

The video starts at 4 minutes.

[u/Dirigio]

Interesting how the court made offensive players more powerful than defensive players.

This kind of reminds me of the Dead-Ball era in Baseball, where a changer to equipment actually ended up changing the game and the strategy in playing it.

The Dead Ball era was roughly from 1900 to roughly 1920. During this time period, there were few home runs during baseball games, and the strategy of the game favored tactics like stealing bases or bunting and also favored speed of the player running the bases as opposed to the power of the hitter hitting the ball. There were a couple of factors that played into this strategy, but one of the more prominent was how the baseball itself was made and maintained during a game. Before 1920, the ball itself was not as tightly wound at the core, and was much softer than a baseball of today. The ball was also not changed very often in game (normally the same ball was used for the entire game, which now it gets changed out more frequently). This lead to the ball being more soft. With a softer ball, the hitter rarely hit the ball out of the park, so strategy for the hitter was just to hit it long enough to make first base.

After 1920, and around the time Babe Ruth started playing, the ball was changed to one that was more solid and had a better bounce when hit, which lead the ball to go further. Once this change was made in the ball, players like Babe Ruth became stronger in the game, increasing their hitting power, and players like Ty Cobb, who's tactics relied mostly on stealing bases and running speed, became less important.