Bye-Bye Blue Clay: Madrid to Switch Back to the Real Thing in 2013

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Bye-Bye Blue Clay: Madrid to Switch Back to the Real Thing in 2013

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

(June 23, 2012)—The ATP made it official today: Roger Federer will forever be the king of blue clay.

And he won't even have to defend his only title on the much-hated surface.

At a meeting of the ATP's Board of Directors in London today, Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett announced that the blue clay will not return to Madrid in 2013.

"While the blue clay may have offered better visibility on television there were clearly issues with the quality of the courts in Madrid this year," said Drewett. "Regardless of color, we must first ensure that the courts are safe and fair for players."

Contempt for the blue clay became a rallying point from many ATP players this season once the gravity of the ATP’s decision to proceed with Ion Tiriac's brainchild in 2011 was felt. Top players -- looking to train on the same type of red clay that they would compete on in the French Open -- were immediately skeptical about the new surfaces’ ability to play like red clay. They were also miffed that they were not allowed to participate in the decision, which was made by the ATP's previous Chief, Adam Helfant, before Drewett had taken over.

"To be honest with you, as far as I know, most of the top players I talked to, nobody agreed on that," said Novak Djokovic in April.

Djokovic went on to highlight his frustration with the fact that he and other top players were not consulted in the decision-making process. "But definitely there is a certain rule within the ATP that the president is able to make the decision by himself without having the players agree to that," said Djokovic. "That rule has to be changed because it's not fair."

In the lead-up to Madrid, the player's clamor began to grow. But Ion Tiriac, the mastermind behind the experimental blue clay, promised that fears of an unnatural, poor-playing surface would be allayed while touting the benefit that both players and television viewers would experience due to a sharper contrast between the yellow balls and the blue clay.

In the end, he was right only about the visibility.

Players had major difficulty keeping their balance on the slippery clay, which was produced in a complicated process which started with iron oxide being extracted from the original red clay (which makes it white), then a 24-hour of treatment with a water-based blue dye.

"For me that's not tennis," a perturbed Djokovic said after attempting to keep his footing in his first round match in Madrid. "Either I come up with the football shoes or I invite Chuck Norris to advise me on how I should play on this court."

Other top players, most notably Rafael Nadal, took up the cause and eventually threatened to boycott the event in 2013 if the blue clay was still in play.

Eventually, the players were heard.

The event will return to it's traditional red clay color in 2013, and Roger Federer’s name will forever be linked to the trivia question about blue clay. He defeated Tomas Berdych in the Madrid final this year, 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Meanwhile, Tour Chief Drewett wants Tiriac to know that he's welcome to go back to the drawing board and cook up some other ideas that might serve tennis well.

"Ion has been a great supporter of the game for many years and I continue to encourage his ideas," Drewett said. "Including the testing of blue clay at non-ATP World Tour events."