Why are the American men struggling at Roland Garros and on the red clay of Europe?
The two Americans who advanced the farthest in the men’s draw were not who you would think – Wayne Odesnik, reached the third round, who is primarily a challenger level player, and Robby Ginepri, who reached the fourth round and is making his way back into the top flights of tennis after a slump.
Why aren’t the top two men like Blake and Roddick competing in the second week of this event? Yes, Roddick is injured but he has never faired well at Roland Garros and Blake is also never been a threat on the red clay. Roddick and Blake seem to blow off correct preparation for the European clay court season by playing events here in the U.S. Yes, Houston is on red clay but the quality of player that is far superior to any in Houston.
If you have ever played on clay then you will know that green clay is very different to red clay and you are fooling yourself. This is exactly what I think that Roddick and Blake are doing. They show up half way through the clay court season and expect to do well, or do they? I seem to feel that Blake and Roddick blow off the clay court season and only really show up to meet there requirements of not getting zeros for the masters series and show up for Roland Garros for the pay check. I do not doubt that they want to win but are they really expecting to with such mediocre preparation. They would both benefit playing more on the clay as it would help there point construction and patience for the hard court season.
The junior situation is just as poor in the U.S. as only really one state in the country has a vast amount of clay courts, Florida. Good luck finding a program that promotes playing on red clay on a regular basis. Saddlebrook does have the red stuff but how often are they making their juniors play on it?
The top three American male juniors (Ryan Harrison, Bradley Klahn and Chase Buchanan) are competing in the Junior French and all three have been eliminated by the second round. Klahn has a traditional hard court game. Harrison and Buchanan are both very steady from the back court but experience and movement on red clay is going to be the problem for them on clay. This was not solved with a few weeks of playing in some events in Europe.
Until the USTA starts to implement a game plan for developing players on clay by putting in and making there top players train on red clay on a regular basis, 3-4 months of the year then American men are going to continue to be the whipping boys on the clay court swing both on the pro circuit and the juniors. The red clay is such a great learning ground for juniors to learn how to play the game of tennis in terms of point construction and patience, it helps condition players to be able to play very long matches that are physically grueling without the wear and tear that you get from hard court play.
When I traveled with four top 100 boys, we were never to concerned when we had to play an American on red clay as we knew they have very little or no experience. This is the feeling of most non American players.