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Why is the Italian Open such a difficult tennis tournament to win? |
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How Rome can be a stepping stone to winning Roland Garros?
If the best of 5 sets was played from round one and the draw was 128, it would be more difficult to win than Roland Garros which is undoubtably the hardest of them all.
We could ask the question 'What about the US Open on hard courts, the Australian in the searing sun and Wimbledon on grass? Yes, they are really tough tournaments to win, but given that any clay court match demands a lot more on physical, mental and technical resources from the players, I can not help but rank the Italian Open as very difficult if not more difficult to win than those.
Why?
1. The courts are deceivingly fast when they are dry and incredibly slow when it rains. The balls act exactly the same and many times their name is Pirelli, yep, you use them in race cars too! The tennis courts have a type of clay that is inherent to Italy, somewhat grainy and coarse which makes them fast and slippery.
If you play the 1:00 o’clock match, court and temperature conditions can change so dramatically that it is wise to have rackets strung and in different ranges varying from 2 to 4 kilos up or down the scale.
Example: You can start with an early May morning/afternoon light dew and humidity with court and balls playing medium pace and in one hour at the beginning of the second set the sun could have become a lot stronger and everything starts playing a lot faster. You have to adjust quickly and if the rackets are not ready you will have to risk a 2nd set loss while the stringer gets you a couple rackets ready.
Unlike in the US Open and Australian where court speed is very identical on most courts. At the Italian Open tennis courts all play different, the Central court is different from all the others, often tends to play a lot faster. But some of the outside courts can be treacherous and slippery as a bunch of marbles!
This is terrific territory for attackers, big servers and slice backhands (I wonder why Roger lost!)
The proof of this roll of the dice situation, is that often a bunch of unexpected players do well at the Italian Open, this year was no exception:
Karlovic (CRO) d. P. Starace (ITA) 63 67 (5) 76 (3)
R. Stepanek (CZE) d. [5] D. Ferrer (ESP) 46 62 61
J. Blake (USA) d. A. Seppi (ITA) 76(5) 36 61
A. Roddick (USA) d. [14] T. Robredo (ESP) 63 46 76 (4)
R. Stepanek (CZE) d. [1] R. Federer (SUI) 76(4) 76(7)
At the press post match conference.
ROGER FEDERER:
“I can't tell you right now 10 minutes after the match,” Federer said. “But this wasn't really a clay court match. I think I would be a bit more worried if I were to lose against a guy who would just be playing real clay court tennis.”
RADEK STEPANEK: "Yeah. I believe there is not many players left with this style, and, you know, it's I think my game is different than 95% or maybe 99% of the players. I'm not running behind the baseline and hitting the balls just back. I'm trying to create and playing serve and volley and, you know, the rallies are shorter. That's the way I'm playing.”
2. If your match is unfortunate enough to be scheduled to play into the night, then you are looking at:
- A lighting system that will leave you wondering if you are actually playing in the dark?
- Not seeing aggressive lobs very well and if the opponent throws one way up into the skies you better let it drop, because it will be lost in the dark.
- A big serve is hard to see let alone read, you have to be an excellent guesser.
- You see the ball in the rallies but you have to concentrate twice as much as under day light.
- Temperatures in the month of May tend to drop sometimes up to 10 degrees centigrade during the evening, so imagine what it does to court conditions, tennis balls and general playing conditions.
- An sticky cool foggy mist surrounds the Foro Italico for the players it is a very uncomfortable situation because it hinders vision, slows everything down and can lead to injuries.
3. The Italian crowds are passionate, emotional, irrational, loud and many times outright unfair!
Rome is an ancient city with traditions of great spectacle and games that go back to the colliseum and the gladiators time. Then Romans decided if a fighter was worthy of leaving or dying and with the turn of a thumb a mans life was at stake.
Today in tennis it is not about life and death, but you better not get on the bad side of an Italian crowd or playing the local gladiator. Rome is still Rome! And Il Foro Italico can easily turn into a mini-colliseum!
This is what happened to Stepanek against Federer;
“They supported him as one of their own players, with passion, and a certain disrespect towards his opponent.”
As I remember well, in 1978 the crowd threw coins (the old Roman style) into the court in the semi-final between José Higueras vs Adriano Panatta and in the final Bjorn Borg vs Adriano Panatta.
It is evident that to win in Rome you need to win the Roman crowd. If you cannot make them like you, then shut them up by playing flawless tennis and not contesting line calls.
There is only one place in the world where the crowds can be more obnoxious, Roland Garros!
How can Rome be a stepping stone to winning Roland Garros?
- With the positive experiences from Rome Novak Djokovic, if he does not play or go too far in Hamburg, is now in an excellent position to do very well at the French Open.
- Winning Rome gives you confidence and the awareness that you now are an accomplished clay court player.
- Given the adverse conditions you faced you are now a tougher competitor.
- The Roman crowds prepare you mentally to face the French crowds.
- Players know history and they know that many others in the past that have won Rome, went on to win Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer as well as dozens of excellent clay court specialists can not be counted out, but Novack Djokovic is knocking at the door. Will he be the one to get in and pick up the cup? Let us wait and see.
All tournaments are extremely difficult to win and a lot has to be going your way, what is important for you to learn from the tennis instruction aspect is:
- Learn to adapt quickly. (accept existing conditions and learn to use them to your advantage)
- Practice on different surfaces with different speeds.
- Use different types of balls (in Italy Pirelli tennis balls can be your down fall if you have never used them)
- Get used to changing the string tension of your rackets (tighter for light balls with sunny conditions – softer strings for heavy balls and cold rainy conditions)
- Learn to fight no matter how adverse the crowds are towards you.
- Develop an all round game, which will allow you tactical flexibility.
Continue to improve your game!
Sergio
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