Nadal and Federer refuse to play on the blue clay surface featured at the Madrid open next season
Organizers of the Mutua Madrid Open have announced that a new mix will be added to the court by featuring a new blue clay surface made by Ion Tiriac in the next ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season.
Former world number one players and two times winners of the Madrid Open, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal of Spain, have disliked the introduction of this new surface and had preferred not to alter the traditional
red clay surface for the ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
Nadal showed his concerns on his twitter account, urging the authorities to respect the traditions and history of the events. He reminded his fans about the traditional Wimbledon Championships, citing that, “It’s a lack of respect
for tradition and the history of this area, I hope one day not having to play on blue grass.”
Federer didn’t say much about the new surface and kept his thoughts short by stating, “it is difficult to talk about right now.”
Blue clay surface has never been played on before and the tournament officials believed that this innovated new kind of surface will bring further modernization in the game. Tiriac has claimed that the blue clay will improve the
visibility of the tennis ball to a great deal for all players and they will like playing on the new coloured surface.
“It looks better, I'm sure. The visibility improved by 25 or 30 percent," Tiriac told Spanish sports reporters. "We want to give world-class athletes such as Mr. Djokovic, Nadal or Federer the best visibility possible. In China,
we will be seen by between 300 and 400 million viewers. In many countries, tennis is now the second national sport after football. We have a responsibility to all those viewers.”
A number of tournaments are played on blue hard courts, like the season ending grand finale, the ATP World Tour Finals in O2 Arena in London, but the blue clay surface will be a completely new experience for the tennis players.
ATP has approved the trail run for the blue clay surface at the next year’s Madrid Open and if positive comments come from the contestants of the event, the authority plans to use the similar kind of surface in more clay court tournaments in the future.
The Mutua Madrid Open will be held from 4th
to 13th of May next year and it is the last stop before the Roland Garros.
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