| By Chris Oddo |
Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images |
(April 24, 2012)--Novak Djokovic spoke publicly last week for the first time about the use of blue clay at the Madrid Masters event in May, saying that he would have liked to see the players involved in the approval process of the surface.
"To be honest with you, as far as I know, most of the top players I talked to, nobody agreed on that," said Djokovic.
Djokovic, who has never played on the surface, has heard from some players that the clay does not play well at all. "Obviously last year they had one indoor court, blue clay," said Djokovic. "A couple of players played. They told me it wasn't good, that the bounce wasn't the same."
The tournament, owned by Ion Tiriac, claims to want the blue clay because it will make for better TV viewing.
"We are dependable on the television and having the possibility to improve it for the television is instrumental," said Tiriac in an interview with CNN last year.
Djokovic, for the record, is for the progress. What he doesn't like is that many top players were not consulted at all before the decision to change surfaces was approved. Madrid is a tournament that is played just three weeks prior to the French Open, and many players would prefer that its playing surface be a reliable proxy for Roland Garros, not a new and different entity.
"All the credit to the tournament, I'm not blaming them," said Djokovic. "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. That rule has to be changed because it's not fair.
"For sure I know the top players didn't try it. Roger, Rafa, myself, Murray. If you don't have the top players agreeing on that, it doesn't make sense for me really."