Is Barcelona

The fastest of the clay court tournaments?

Many Thanks:)

no it should be gstaad, because of the altitude

ok thanks interrupt but am I right in thinking it is fast for a clay court?

faster than most of the clay courts

Great thanks interruptus and thanks for your time:)

You can't really compare with altitude clay, that plays pretty different. Barcelona is one of the quicker sea level courts though, alongside Acapulco and Roland Garros.

Rome is the quickest.

This of course is all dependant on clear skies and good weather.

Rome is the quickest.
Madrid is quicker. Rome is slightly below speedwise. Barcelona is slightly below Rome speed. Monte-Carlo is by far the slowest. RG was very quick last year. Historically, RG is slower than Rome imo but it changed last year with the new balls they supposedly implemented to help Fed win RG. So this is how I rank it as of 2009.

1. Madrid
2. RG
3. Rome
4. Barcelona
5. Monte-Carlo

the slowest are Hamburg, Umag and Buenos Aires, the fastest are Madrid and Rome

MC is slow but not the slowest, same with BCN

Madrid is quicker. Rome is slightly below speedwise. Barcelona is slightly below Rome speed. Monte-Carlo is by far the slowest. RG was very quick last year. Historically, RG is slower than Rome imo but it changed last year with the new balls they supposedly implemented to help Fed win RG. So this is how I rank it as of 2009.

1. Madrid
2. RG
3. Rome
4. Barcelona
5. Monte-Carlo

Yes, agree with that list. Previous to last year 2 and 3 were switched.

the slowest are Hamburg, Umag and Buenos Aires....



Buenos Aires varies a lot, weather can make it slow as mud some years. Moya called it fast this year, for example. It's one of the trickier ones to take year to year comparisons from.

Hamburg seems to have changed noticeably since they shifted it back too, as it's quite a heap warmer in July. Also, the centre court there plays noticeably different to the outside ones.


Madrid vs the others is a different type of comparison, cos it's no longer between surfaces/underlays, the difference is airspeed. All the altitude clay events tend to be far more favourable to traditional hard courters as a result - eg Youzhny in Munich looks extremely competent, whereas in Monte Carlo he can barely win a match and can't wait to leave.

Thought Houston was the fastest clay.

Weather is nº 1 fact when considering a clay court speed. This week Barna has played faster than other years, but nowadays on a sunny day, Madrid are the fastest conditions by a long margin at least in Europe, never been in SA courts

Edit: Was asleep yet, was referring only to big tourneys, ofc all high altitude courts Gstaad Kizt, etc will be as fast or more as Madrid

Bogota's courts (for example) cannot be compared in the same way for the altitude difference, the courts are really really fast and that's why they keep watering them and use special balls to make the surface playable (can't imagine a decoturf court with that altitude :unsure: )

Madrid has some altitude, but it's not like it is Mount Everest, Gstaad is higher and is not as fast as the Magic Box, it's that crap surface what makes the court go really fast

don't you remember the 08 SF of DC held in the bullfighting venue of Madrid? that clay was nowhere as fast as the Magic Box one

I watched Bs As last year and it seemed pretty slow to me, but again like philosophicalarf says, it depends a lot in the conditions

from the years I attended Hamburg, it seemed much slower than many other clay courts I've seen, maybe it has gotten quicker but till 07 it was pretty slow

most centre courts nowadays play differently from the other ones, RG is a prime example of that as we saw last year, SL court was way slower than PC

Bogota's courts (for example) cannot be compared in the same way for the altitude difference, the courts are really really fast and that's why they keep watering them and use special balls to make the surface playable (can't imagine a decoturf court with that altitude :unsure: )

Madrid has some altitude, but it's not like it is Mount Everest, Gstaad is higher and is not as fast as the Magic Box, it's that crap surface what makes the court go really fast

don't you remember the 08 SF of DC held in the bullfighting venue of Madrid? that clay was nowhere as fast as the Magic Box one

I watched Bs As last year and it seemed pretty slow to me, but again like philosophicalarf says, it depends a lot in the conditions

from the years I attended Hamburg, it seemed much slower than many other clay courts I've seen, maybe it has gotten quicker but till 07 it was pretty slow

most centre courts nowadays play differently from the other ones, RG is a prime example of that as we saw last year, SL court was way slower than PC

Pretty much says it all, yes. That SF in DC, they laid gazillions of dirt there to make it slow as fuck. Magic Box had a thin layer last year and it was very fast to me, specially in the 3 main courts

The lack of clay on the surface is the thing for Madrid, not the 580m above sea level which is not altitude.