There is only one king of clay tennis: Rafael Nadal. The 36-year-old Spaniard has elevated his game on ground brick to an art. Nadal won his first title at Roland Garros in 2005 at the age of eighteen. And since then he has been almost unbeatable at the most prestigious clay court tournament. Only the Swede Robin Söderling and the Serbian Novak Djokovic managed to beat him in Paris. Nadal has been working for months on a comeback with one goal: winning his fifteenth title at Roland Garros. With that he would have won a grand slam tournament more than Djokovic: 23.
One thing is certain in advance: Nadal is the best on clay ever. He is the great example of a new generation of clay tennis players, who grew up with posters of Rafa on the walls of their nursery. Like Casper Ruud. The Norwegian was six years old when Nadal won his first title at Roland Garros. Last year, at the age of 23, Ruud had no chance in the final against his idol. Nadal was still unbeatable and will start again as a favorite in Paris at the end of May.
What makes Nadal so good on clay? And what are the secrets of playing on these courses, of which there are more than six thousand spread across the Netherlands? NRC asked a number of Dutch (former) tennis professionals at the start of the clay court season. Lesley Pattinama-Kerkhove (31) expresses her aversion to the underground, while Suzan Lamens (23) expresses her unconditional love for clay tennis. “Gravel is not for me, much too slow. I’ll be glad when this season is over. Give me a hard court,” says Pattinama-Kerkhove at the national tennis center in Amstelveen. “Playing on clay is wonderful,” says Lamens. “Have fun running and fighting for every point.”
Antalya
Pattinama-Kerkhove and Lamens, together with Lexie Stevens, Demi Schuurs and Bibiane Schoofs, are preparing to fight for the Netherlands next week in Antalya under the leadership of captain Elise Tamaëla for a place in the play-offs to return to the world group of the Billie Jean King Cup. On gravel. In the same Turkish city, 22-year-old Max Houkes took new steps towards the top of international tennis on his favorite surface last week. The Dutchman is now in three hundredth place in the world ranking and hopes to collect enough points in the coming weeks to qualify for Roland Garros. “Playing in Paris is a goal,” says Houkes by phone from Turkey.
Houkes must confess that he has never been to Roland Garros. He only knows the tennis park next to Bois de Boulogne from the TV. Still, Houkes is convinced that the jobs in Paris suit him well. “I am a real clay tennis player,” he says without any hesitation. “Now that the season has started again, it starts to tickle. You bite into that gravel. Beautiful. Like almost all Dutch people, I grew up on this surface. And for me, Nadal is also the example. He plays the ultimate clay court tennis. There is no greater warrior. If you want to beat Nadal, you have to kill him first.”
Houkes tries his way, where he can, to copy Nadal’s game. “To begin with, I am also a typical lefty. With my left hand I can give a lot of spin to the ball with my forehand, making it bounce higher. I like long rallies. Chess on the court. Fight for every point. Sliding to the ball. Hitting the ball over the net with just the right margin. That is wonderful.”
When Houkes looks at Nadal, he sees a tennis player who performs all those aspects to perfection. If Nadal hit his forehand with the right timing and ‘roll‘, the ball spins five thousand times a minute. Houkes comes to about 2,500 revolutions. “In clay tennis, in addition to technique, it is even more about discipline and fitness than on other types of courts. If only because parties usually take longer,” explains Houkes. “What makes Nadal so special is that he walks on everything and hits balls that others don’t have. He allows opponents to hit countless extra balls. This is how he destroys his rivals. In addition, Nadal can not only hit heavy spin balls with his left hand, but also make huge angles that push his opponent far back.”
Kiki Bertens
For the past eighteen years, no one has really been able to find an answer to Nadal’s clay game. The Spaniard has put former champions and former specialists such as Björn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Sergi Bruguera and Gustavo Kuerten in his shadow. Suzan Lamens also expresses admiration for Nadal in Amstelveen. In her eyes ‘the one and only specialist’ on gravel. “Nadal is simply the best and an example for everyone,” says Lamens.
She goes back eleven years in her mind when she visited Roland Garros as a twelve-year-old tourist. Nadal already ruled the men at the time. In Paris, Lamens was amazed at matches by Ana Ivanovic (winner in 2008) and Sara Errani (finalist in 2012). “Roland Garros has always been my favorite tournament. It was a dream when I was allowed to play there in the qualifications last year. The lanes are so beautiful, so smooth. The gravel feels like a blanket. I hope I can play tennis there again this year,” says the number 272 in the world ranking.
Lamens does not mirror himself so much to Nadal, but rather to Kiki Bertens, the best Dutch professional player ever on clay. The 31-year-old Bertens retired two years ago and is now assistant to team captain Tamaëla. “I would like to be able to play tennis like Bertens,” says Lamens, who was once called ‘the new Bertens’. „Kiki could return the balls very tough from behind with a sliced backhand, but she also had a very heavy forehand with which she dealt herself. You almost never see that combination in women. That’s what made her so strong.”
For Tamaëla it is a great loss that Bertens no longer plays. In addition, the current number one in the Netherlands, Arantxa Rus, is also missing in Turkey. The gravel specialist prefers individual tournaments to national tennis, so that the Netherlands starts as an underdog in the encounter with ten other countries. It is up to Tamaëla, the former number 129 in the world and lover of clay tennis, to prepare her players together with Bertens for a series of clay games. “Gravel tennis requires something different than hard court or grass. From sliding to the ball to the right grip and swing technique. Sliding is about daring, but also about timing. That has to be a natural movement where you have to estimate exactly when you are at the ball,” says Tamaëla. “Gravel tennis is also mentally tougher. You have to be ready for a long game where every point counts. As a player myself, I was not always in the mood for that.”
Tamaëla concludes with a smile: „No, my players are not supposed to go on court with that attitude. You mindset just has to be good if you want to win a match on clay.”
In that respect, the Dutch women have no better example than Rafael Nadal.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of April 8, 2023