CAMELOT FANTASIES

Quote from: Clay Death on November 26, 2013, 07:42:15 pm

could pete have held back a little bit at RG because he wanted to pace himself better for the full season?


i mean his results were exceptional at Wimbledon, u.s. open, and at the end of the season.





this is going to be a lousy example but guys like querrey and Roddick are on record for saying they wanted to conserve and take their best shots at Wimbledon and other quicker courts.

Roddick sure skipped a lot of clay events.

lousy example in a sense that Roddick and querrey would not have won much on clay anyway. there are just too many great players around.

Well, he did make the AO final in 1995 and didn't attend twice in his career otherwise he might have done better there. He won 2 AOs. So his AO results are by no means something to sneeze at. I don't think he entirely held back when it came to RG, but can't say he was on full throttle either. Wimbledon was very dear to him and that was his priority. Perhaps if there was a very nice gap in between and if nothing was at stake, he might have gone for higher chances and could have won at least managed 1 RG. But he wasn't very lucky with the draws there and there were just too many clay courters around at that time. And his game also didn't automatically suit the surface. He did not grow up on clay and had never practiced on it. Federer played a lot on clay growing up so he was more familiar with the surface, but still, Guga, Corretja were merciless to him. And Nadal later.

Guga, Corretja all past their prime by 2005 and left the field wide open for others to take it. The only worthy clay courter who was still young and around was Ferrero, but he wasn't as good as Guga.

i hear ya.


what about Edberg and Michael Stich? were they good on clay? did they win any clay events at all that you can recall from the top of your head?

i know becker once took Muster to 5 sets at Monte Carlo but he failed to win a single clay event during his tenure at ATP.