THE CASE OF RADWANSKA, WOZNIACKI, MUGURUZA, BARTY AND SHARAPOVA
It is usually said that, in contemporary tennis, surfaces are very similar between each other: the clay has become quicker, the grass has been slowed down, and the transition to 100% rye grass at Wimbledon has increased bounces, assimilating the playing style to that of other surfaces. These are all established facts by now, but it is still true that, in spite of tennis players that are able to deliver with pretty much the same results everywhere, there are still players today who suffer from a performance discrepancy based on the surface they happen to play on – let’s try to see who has been able to overcome these difficulties and who hasn’t.
Let’s start with some negative examples, which obviously can only concern players who have already retired, for we are sure that their limitations were never completely overcome.
Agnieszka Radwanska ended up giving up in the wake of her idiosyncrasy for clay. She was a tactically smart, strong defensive player, with soft hands at the net and an exceptional drop shot.
On paper, these were perfect qualities for clay, and yet she was never comfortable on the dirt.
One of the reasons was a certain discomfort in handling high-bouncing shots, but the main issue was her lack of power, which made it too demanding for her to hit many groundstrokes; and with such a structural problem, her other qualities were insufficient. At some point, Radwanska herself may have considered the situation unsalvageable, so much that she started to play less and less on clay. For example, in the second half of her career she no longer went to Rome (she played for the last time in 2014), a very unusual choice for a European player. Of course, she never gave up the French Open, but she didn’t get much satisfaction from it anyway: her best finish was a quarter final in 2013, defeated in two sets by Sara Errani. Just imagining the same match between Aga and Sara on the grass gives us an idea of how much the surface can affect the outcome at times.
Second example: Caroline Wozniacki. Like Osaka, Wozniacki was a hardcourt savant. She won the Australian Open in 2018, the WTA Finals in 2017, and reached several finals in New York, but never went deep at Wimbledon or at the Roland Garros. Actually, Wozniacki won Wimbledon as a junior and did not play badly in other tournaments on the grass, but she got only disappointments at the actual Championships.
We must keep in mind, however that not all grasscourts are the same. Whenever, as a Wimbledon correspondent, I have asked the players about the courts, I have always had the same answer: the courts at the Championships are not the same as those at Eastbourne or Birmingham, and each tournament has its own feel, because the courts are somewhat “alive” and the variables that influence them are many. Perhaps also for this reason Caroline boasts three finals (two wins) in Eastbourne, but never went beyond the fourth round (out of 13 participations) at the Championships. So, Radwanska and Wozniacki are not exactly positive examples.
But there are also players who have been able to change their attitude and fortunes to the point of surprising even themselves with exceptional results. I have chosen three cases.
The first is that of Garbiñe Muguruza. This is what she said in a press conference on the eve of Wimbledon in 2016, right after her success at Roland Garros in the final against Serena Williams – she had already been a finalist at SW19 the year before (defeated by Serena):
“As a young girl I hated grass, even if they told me that my tennis could be effective on the surface. Then it was love/hate with Wimbledon, but at the beginning it was tough. I still have some work to do, it’s not my comfort zone yet, but now I’m convinced I can play well here too.” Certainly, Garbiñe didn’t shape her own game on this kind of courts, but then she was able to adapt really well, winning the title in 2017, twelve months after this press conference. We are not used to associating grass with Spanish tennis, despite the case of Conchita Martinez (Muguruza’s coach and a surprise winner in 1994), but we have proof that with experience you can become competitive.
The second feel-good story is that of Ashleigh Barty. The 2019 Roland Garros champion, born and trained in Australia on a diet of hardcourts and grass, did not like clay one bit, so much so that during the 2018 Charleston tournament she jokingly declared: “Every week spent on clay means getting one week closer to grass.” Then she added, more seriously: ” I think I have to face the situation in a positive way and be ready for the next couple of months to get my shoes and socks dirty before the time comes for grass.” Twelve months later, Ashleigh would become the Grand Slam champion of the tournament she liked the least, surprising even herself. Garbiñe won the title at 23 and a half, Ashleigh at 23 and a month.
Third and last positive story, probably the most striking and celebrated: Maria Sharapova. A Wimbledon champion at 17, she subsequently triumphed in Melbourne and New York as well, but it seemed that success in Paris was almost impossible for her. However, she knew that, were she to manage to win in Paris, she would have come full circle, winning the Career Grand Slam. In 2007, before the French tournament, she made a statement that would then be quoted countless times: “Playing on clay is not natural for me. I don’t play there for 10 months a year. I feel like a cow on ice.” In 2008, during an interview with David Letterman, she repeated the phrase. She would go on to state several times that early on in her career she seldom played on the surface, and she didn’t like the slower conditions.
But things change over time. From the zero red clay titles she won until 2010, in the latter half of her career the situation reversed. Starting in 2011, Sharapova won the French Open twice (2012, 2014), the Italian Open thrice, Stuttgart thrice as well, and the Madrid Open once. In the same period, she won only two important titles outside of clay courts: Indian Wells 2013, Beijing 2014. If we take into account that Sharapova was born in May of 1987, the radical change took place at about 24 years of age. And if, on the eve of this change, someone had predicted Maria’s career-end resumé, he would have been taken for an incompetent madman.
In summary, the most unexpected Grand Slam victories for Muguruza, Barty and Sharapova occurred between the ages of 23 and 25. Osaka will turn 24 in October. What will she be able to do outside of hard courts?
On page 3, Osaka and clay
