time to begin a *clay court* chain.

TheTennisChannel had some coverage of the Vina Del Mar, Chile event, though was not listed and basically showed up whenever the Florida event ended. are promoting further coverage of the remaining 3 south/central america clay court events, beginning next week, with Davis Cup coverage this week.

Acasuso was the star in Chile, dominating all comers with his relaxed intensity. his forehand seems to meet the ball late with pace and lots of sidespin, something of a slap shot, but very effective and accurate. no objections to his dark curly hair and sweet face.

is Nadal also skipping the S America season? apparently.

I wonder how loud the doping rumors will get about Nadal. I really hope it's not true.

There are a lot of cynics out there, claiming there's a real reason *wink, wink, nudge, nudge* he isn't playing. Innocent until proven guilty, I say. He seems to be one of the few viable threats against Roger on clay and on hardcourts. I look forward to the continuation of their multi-surface rivalry.

I don't get that at all. My understanding is that tennis players are subject to testing at any time, not just at tournaments. I seem to recall Venus Williams complaining about the inconvenience of sudden unannounced tests.

I hadn't heard this rumor before? Where have you heard it? I'm not suprised if it's making the rounds though, given how quickly he broke through last year and of course there are those arms of his.

Peter Bodo had a blog that speculated about it. G4G (I think) posted the link to it a couple of weeks back. Idle speculation is the devil's workshop. But nowadays, who knows.

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(what Larry said)

...and there's that ass. Could that be an explanation for his ass?

I'm not sure how I missed that, because when G4G speaks, I listen!

I wonder what that speculation is based on. Granted, I haven't read it, but it seems a like poor journalism to speculate about something so seriously without any evidence.

Hmm?

no, but it could explain his fondness for those awful capri shorts/longs... it's a well-known fact that doping has detrimental effects on aesthetic judgement that are directly proportional to increases in muscle build and stamina.

i can reproduce the gist of Bodo's argument. first, that Nadal had been pronounced good-to-go by his doctors. second, that his game is suited to the rebound-ace surface, which would have been a good incentive for him to have been there. it is a major, after all. so why the absence? the doping was given as an alternative explanation, time to dry out. for the record, there seemed also to be hints that maybe Henin-Hardenne was maybe sampling some chemicals last year, was clearly bulking up, the hamstring problems thought to be related. she finally fired her trainer and has gone back to old training habits.

Bodo is very quick on his blog to make a distinction between being a journalist and being a blogger. His blog are his opinions, not journalistic reporting, and not meant to be taken as such. That's how he gets away with insinuating something like steroids. He also wasn't saying he knew anything for certain, but was just openly speculating.

I actually didn't bring the article up. Someone else did and then I went and found a link, because I didn't even know Bodo had a blog! So some other savvy Outsporter deserves the credit for being on the pulse of the tennis grapevine.

I knew if I kept talking, someone was bound to pay attention sooner or later. Thanks, shep

At the AO this year there were the usual rumours about Serena Williams, Kuznetsova,JHH and Hewitt. But just that rumours!!

The protocols for testing for tennis players are set by the IDTA and I believe are pretty thorough. Remember, they busted El Aynoui a few months ago just for marijuana use at an obscure tournament in Italy.Testing can occur at any time any place.

Molik, who herself was whispered about, down here, after her sudden burst of wins late 2004 early 2005, particularly after she beat Venus at the AO, was commenting that even though she has taken a year off, for the inner ear virus, still gets tested regularly.

I would like to think tennis is relatively clean compared to some other sports.

It's very easy to start rumors, particularly about a player who has sudden improvement. There was Clijsters' father casting aspersions about JHH. And Sandrine Testud (I think -- it was that now retired, outspoken French player who wrote a poison pen book about her peers) made insinuations that I took to be about Mauresmo, and maybe also Capriati (something like: "I don't care how hard you train. No one gets that much faster and that much stronger....").

It's easy to start rumors and nearly impossible to disprove them for sure. And now that JHH has (by her own doing) reached new levels of unpopularity, I'm sure many people will be only too willing to believe them, evidence or not.

Speaking of Kuznetsova, I thought she would do well here this summer, she has lost weight and went through the Hopman Cup unbeaten but didn't go on with the form.

I saw Svetlana interviewed a couple of times and I think she is exceedingly good value. That deep deep voice, that accent plus a real sense of humour. Methinks she really doesn't take herself all that seriously.

The starter of this topic asked us to try and keep it focused on the clay court season. I think doping is a very important issue that needs to be discussed, so could one of you start that topic so that a) this thread stays on topic and the doping issue gets its own dedicated thread?

Not to be pushy or anything.

I brought up the d-word in relation to Nadal a month or so ago primarily because I disagree with Bodo -- Nadal played more matches than any other player last year, and his (people's) decision to skip the Australian seems wise to me. G4G, you're right to point out Bodo's distinction between journalism and blogging, but it kind of bugs me that Bodo uses his high profile irresponsibly (in my opinion) with this kind of not-grounded innuendo.

There are a lot of teenagers with Nadal's arms. His gift-from-God ass is another matter! He was being picked as a potential #1 quite some time ago, so his ascent last year doesn't seem suspect or surprising to me. Glad that a poster above pointed out that players can be tested at any time, even when they aren't at tournaments.

Anyway, it probably would be right to start a separate doping thread if the issue continues to impact the sport the way it did last year with Sesil K, Canas and Puerta. (And hey, if Nadal's guilty, why wasn't he nailed when Puerta, and Sesil K, were?)

Now, to the clay courts! I was happy to see Acacuso(sp) win Movistar this weekend. He's a definite threat this spring if not the whole year -- with that big serve, great height, and his baseline consistency, he has potential to be an all-court player. He has a sportsman's classy presence on-court and he's hot. Can't say that about his final opponent Massu. I felt like Massu got to the final partly through questioning/overturning some aces by his friend Gonzalez in the semis. If Gonzalez held everything together he would be top 5, not many other players have his explosive power.

I love clay courts and the clay season. The whole difference between South American clay and the clay courts in the southern U.S. and in Europe is interesting to me. Does anyone here know much about this? Some friends and I are thinking of going to Mexico or Argentina this spring/summer and I'm wondering -- has anyone here played tennis on clay in South America, or even on red clay? Sorry if this is going off topic again!

I guess the clay season doesn't resume until next week in Buenos Aires.

I grew up on green clay in South Carolina which was very slow. I lived in Mexico for a year and played on a few green clay courts there and found them to be a little faster but nothing like a hard court. No idea about red clay down there....

This may not faze the Nadal doping conspiracy theorists, but I'm willing to accept his explanation. So maybe we'll see him back on clay soon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/ne...tory?id=2322006

Two Hander,you asked a question in your last post, on this thread, about playing on European clay versus other clay surfaces.

The green clay curfaces and the red clay surfaces are quite different. The courts in France, for example,are a clay/loam base and over the top they spread ground/pulverized terracotta, hence the red appearance.That gives the court a very slippery feel.

The green clay is a firmer footing and the red clay less tractable. We see the Europeans/South Americans in a baseline rally spot where they think the ball will land and slide to the point of impact.They slide on the surface coating. It takes years and years of pratice.I think the court preparations are pretty much the same in the other European countries,though I am not sure.

The green clay in the USA is roughly of the same composition as the underlay of the European clay, but without the the fine red terracotta surface coating, that is why they,USA courts, are faster.

I have played on red clay in Spain and France as a junoir and it is a weird feeling, at first, as the footing feels insecure and one always seems to be slipping and scrambling until you get the gist of sliding into the ball.We have a lawn court at home so for me it was a complete change in thinking. technical and physical approach and was very difficult to adjust.

I really admire those modern players who can adapt to the change in surfaces but the red clay, as we all know, really suits the topspin artists, raised on the stuff, who can stand behind the baseline,with good net clearnce on their groundstrokes and stay all day in battles of attrition.They learn to do that as kids.My point is somehwat defeated when the record books show serve-volleyers(like Court,Laver,Navratilova,Roche etc) with good results on clay but that was before changes in racquet technology, and of the well taught theory of the time, that one must always come forward, no matter what the surface.Recently, Henman reached a semi in Paris and Davenport beat Clijsters(who even slides on Rebound-Ace....eek)so there can be surprise results explained I think, in Henman's case of not letting opponents get into rhythm, with his net-rushing, and, Davenport(and Williams sisters) hard flat power grounstrokes that give time to set up, and deal with, a resulting weaker return.

I imagine South American clay surfaces are pretty similar to European clay.I did go to Brazil some years ago, but being essentially a sleazebag I did the beach,gym,bar and nightclub routine and forgot to check-out the museums,galleries and tennis court surfaces.I will report next time.

These are just my scant opinions, and perhaps European contributors for red clay and Americans for green clay, could give better technical insights.

[ February 09, 2006, 02:04 AM: Message edited by: xanthos ]

Thanks Xanthos for the clay comparison info -- I knew the green/red courts were different but I've never played on red and have no experience of the terra cotta effect.

Still a running and sliding baseliner at heart, so clay's always been my favorite surface (I'd love to try playing on grass sometime but don't think it would suit my game). It's near impossible to play on clay in California, though a wet hardcourt out can be a cheap-o variant. G4G once joked about Califonia hardcourts being almost as slow as clay and he's right.

What you say about Clijsters sliding on Rebound Ace is telling. Unwise, maybe? I think it has a lot to do with her current injury. Funny story about Brazil, too -- sleazy pursuits vs. tennis is a fierce debate in my household as well.

Poor Nadal, crying about the possibility he couldn't play again. He deserves some comfort! I don't think the early South American clay tournaments are on his itinerary this year, so it'll be interesting to see who might emerge in his stead. Acasuso is one possibility.

Moya won in Buenos Aires, defeating Volandri in the final. That match was a two-setter, but he had to fight off some set points, which were characteristic of his efforts -- more than once in the tournament he fought back from a set down (against Massu and Ferrero) to win.

The commentators said that in addition to a shoulder injury, Moya's 2005 was severely hampered by three spring losses to Puerta. It must be really frustrating to have had your year so impacted by a player who has been booted from the sport.

Gaby, I saw a few minutes of the Copa Telmex final, and they showed your girl watching in the stands.