Clay King Rafael Nadal Dominates as Modern Spanish Armada Seizes Rome

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: May 1, 2010

commentComment        

European clay has imposed its “stop action” properties on all the world’s top tennis players, except those from Spain.

Friday in Rome, there were Spaniards playing in each of the quarterfinal matches at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia Masters 1000 Tournament with an opportunity, of course, for all four of them to advance to the semifinals on Saturday.

The domination of players from a particular county on a singular surface has never been quite so striking as it has been for Spanish players competing on clay. Since 2005, the supremacy generally rested with one person—Rafael Nadal, the media-proclaimed King of Clay.

But this year, early on we saw a resurgence on clay of Juan Carlos Ferrero during the South American swing. When Ferrero wasn’t able to win his last one, David Ferrer stepped in to pick up another trophy in Acapulco.

So far in 2010, eight ATP matches have been played on clay, with Spanish players winning five of them. We suspect soon the retooled Spanish Armada will have won six of nine, once the Rome finals are complete.

Winning two-thirds of all clay matches played is an impressive statistic, regardless of your impressions of the players or the surface.

Twelve of the world’s top 100 tennis players originate from Spain with nine of them in the top 50, two in the top 10. Spain, France, and Germany are the three countries that have the greatest number of players in the top 50—Spain with nine and France and Germany with five each.

France—for the moment—is on a decline, as former top players like Gilles Simon and Paul Henri Mathieu suffer falling fortunes and Gael Monfils remains injured. Germany would be ahead of France, except that Tommy Haas is now considered a player from the U.S. With Haas in their camp, the U.S. has four players in the top 50, James Blake now falling out of that upper tier.

Fu...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!