What does it take to become a better clay court player compared to grass or hard court in tennis???

Question

Why cant federer beat nadal on clay but whip him on grass

Answer 1

Tiger, clay is best suited for quicker shorter strides, and the ability to slide into your shots. If you are a big hitter, big server you aren't giving yourself much time to set up for the next shot. If you hit with lots of top then you can set up nicely and turn it into a match or at least rally like a sonofabitch til your opponent makes an error or you get an easy put away and the point is over. Players raised on clay or from countries in warmer climes usually have an easier time with clay court matches. Roger has been working on more top on his forehand and has beat a couple of good clay courters recently so he is making improvements. His clay win % is 75% career and 83.3% for this year. He has beat Rafa on clay in Hamburg last year which some might call hard clay but is still clay none the less. Roland Garros' clay will be a little harder this year as opposed to last so it should suit him better. This should be Fed's year to break through at Roland Garros. All he needs is one French title to make his G.O.A.T legitimate to the doubters and non believers, he pretty much owns every other title or will very shortly.

Answer 2

Play on clay more.  IDK.

Answer 3

Because Rafa Rocks that dirt surface :) He is King Of Clay and i expect him to lift that 4th title here at Roland Garros!!! As for Roger beating Rafa on grass ahahahaha you say federer can ``whip`` Nadal on that surface ? Think again Sugar :P cause the past 2 finals at wimby have been close encounters. The one in 2006 was 4 sets, then 2007 Rafa took the ``King of Grass`` to a thrilling 5 setter which he should have won however ended up getting an injury in the final set :( !!! He had sooo many break point opportunities in that 5th and the title should have been rafa`s !! :) Dont worry i believe he has an excellent chance this year to win wimbledon :) After all he deserves it.

Vamos Rafa x*x

Answer 4

Strong legs, stamina, guts and patience

and earplugs to block the raucous crowd lol (just referring to roland garros)

nadal has the patience to stick with federer and the strength to get the shots back that other players normally wouldn't be able to get back.. he wears federer down by tiring his mind

federer has the ability to win on clay.. nadal just constantly gets the better of him..

Answer 5

to be a better clay court player u need better defensive skills.. more topspin on your shots..

for hardcourts u need to hit a bit flatter and bigger

Answer 6

You need a lot of endurance, and very consistent and solid shotmaking and movement all around the court.  Just look at past successful clay courters like Moya, Muster, Kuerten, Brugera, and now Nadal.  Clay courts are very slow courts where balls generally kick up, and the player needs to be very adept at moving around the court, sliding into shots, and placing the ball with lots of spin.  These skills do not transfer very well at all to hard courts, and only transfer somewhat to grass courts.

Answer 7

Big serve is less important, but endurance and spin are more important.  You gotta have wheels to play on clay and be patient enough to hit 20 shot rallies.  Spin has more effect than on hard courts, so both topspin and slice become more important.  The prototype clay court player that mere mortals can try to imitate is Justine Henin.  For those immortals, try to imitate Nadal, but I think this is as hard to do as imitating Bjorn Borg.

Nadal is sort of a freak of nature on clay.  What is more telling is that he keeps getting closer to Federer on hard courts and grass.  But, apart from loosing to Nadal, Federer is an incredible clay court player.

Answer 8

to be a good claycourt player (like nadal) you have to be very, VERY phisically fit. the rallies on clay are much longer than on any other surface, because the ball travels slower. on grass for example, the ball travels very fast.

also, nadal is a better fighter than federer. he can be 5-1 down in  a set against federer and still win it.

basically, federer's game is more suited for grass than clay. whereas nadal's game is better for clay because he can just rally all day long and not miss a single shot. also the spin that these two players put on the ball is UNBELIEVABLE.

Answer 9

rafa's game is suited for clay.. while roger's style of play is the best for fast surfaces like grass and hard