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Who survives the clay-to-hard switch

Three weeks, two surfaces, and a ranking that punishes anyone who plays through it.

Ines FerreiraMatch editor
1 min read
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Three weeks, two surfaces, and a ranking that punishes anyone who plays through it. The clay-to-hard switch is the season’s cruellest fortnight.

The problem

The points from last year’s hard-court run expire in the same week the clay season ends. Skip the switch and the ranking drops; play it and the body does.

Practice courts, resurfaced overnight between events.

Who copes

  • Players with a flat backhand: the ball skids on hard courts and the stroke does not need rebuilding.
  • Players who train on hard courts year round and treat clay as the exception.
  • Nobody over thirty, according to the last five seasons of results.
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Ines FerreiraMatch editor

Match editor. Writes the report you read before the highlights load, from the press box or the away end. Seven seasons of match coverage across four countries; the set-piece obsessive of the newsroom.

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