The breeze rustling the court-side roses of the grandstand court in Rome this week may be the collective sighs of American tennis fans crossing the Atlantic as they finally let go of years of pent up anxiety about European clay court season. Lead by John Isner, American men are rediscovering success on the red clay courts of Europe; a level of success still unequal to the hey days of stars like Jim Courier, Michael Chang, and Andre Agassi–but getting closer. American men are seemingly finding themselves playing well in important matches and making deep runs into major clay court events.
Isner’s struggle with clay has been more about a well-documented struggle with Europe (and travel) itself, more so than the actual pulverized brick of these venues. Isner has not been able to duplicate his home court success outside of the United States. Isner lamented his European struggles in 2014 at Indian Wells as he tried to articulate or understand why he performed poorly outside the US, noting that “There is no reason I can’t have a result like this outside of the U.S,” and maybe finally he is solving that puzzle. After an inauspicious opening to the clay season, with a first round loss at Houston (a tournament he has won and usually performs well at), Isner reached the 3rd round at Monte Carlo, was a quarterfinalist at Madrid, and reached the Round of 16 at Rome. These tourney runs included wins over names that have typically proven problematic for him on clay including, Victor Troicki, Thomas Bellucci, Adrian Mannarino, and a very fulfilling 3 set win over Nick Kyrgios. And although those wins may not be over dominant clay court players of this generation, he showed equal amount of determination and promise in his three European clay court losses this year. In losses to Berdych and Nadal (Monte-Carlo and Rome) Isner had chances to assert himself in the closing sets and take or extend the match. Regardless of the outcomes, Isner has shown a level of play more consistent with his American hard court success–bouncing his kick serve out of the court, crushing forehand returns down the line, and raising his defensive ability at important moments. With one week still leading into the French Open left to play, Isner has already had arguably his best European lead-in into Roland Garros. His quarterfinal run in Madrid was his best European clay court result since 2010 when he surprisingly made the final of the Serbia Open (losing to countryman Sam Querry in the final).
Isner is not alone in breaking through barriers and reaching a higher level of play on the clay this season. Although not in Europe, Jack Sock won his first ATP tour title when winning the US Clay Court Championships contested on the red clay in Houston. Sock posted good wins over strong clay court players like Santiago Giraldo and Roberto Bautista Agut. He followed his championship in the US with a first round win in Madrid over Barcelona finalist Pablo Andujar, before a frustrating 3 set loss to Jo-Wielfred Tsonga in the next round. Sam Querrey made the finals at Houston and won a round at Madrid over Thanasi Kokkinakis. Steve Johnson won his opening round match in Madrid over clay court specialist Alejandro Gonzales. The trend even continued in the Challenger tour where 17 year old Frances Tiafoe claimed the USTA French Open wild card by reaching the semis of the clay court event in Savannah and the finals of the clay court event in Tallahassee, beating several Europeans and South Americans in the process. The fact that five American men even were in the draw at Rome is a sign of improving attitudes towards clay, as Rome (and many other of the European tourneys) were simply ignored and skipped by the top American men over the years.
It may seem grandiose to claim a clay court renaissance based upon American professional players merely winning opening round matches over players ranked in the top 40, etc. However, this shows how dire the American men’s situation and performance had been on clay up until now. John Isner’s first round win over Joao Sousa in the Italian Open this week was the first win by any American man in that event since 2012; a Masters 1000 mandatory event where no man from one of the most powerful and wealthy countries in the world had won a match in three years. He then backed that win up with a strong win over Argentinian Leonardo Mayer. Reaching the 3rd round of the French Open has become the litmus test for American success. No American man has reached the final of Roland Garros since 1999 when Andre Agassi took the crown. Multiple years passed without an American man making past the second round. These have been difficult times for American men in tennis, and those difficulties have only been amplified by the Spring clay season in Europe.
It will be interesting to see if this pre French Open success will continue into and throughout the two weeks of the French Open. With a tennis fandom desperate for a reason to pay attention to the news within the walls of the hallowed Court Chatrier and Court Suzanne Lenglen, any deep run by an American man would bring deserved ballyhoo to him from the American sports media and hopefully continue to push American men onward to more success on the pulverized stone.
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