The puzzle of playing clay-court tennis can be challenging for the best players in the world. The balls kick up and bounce differently, movement is often a big factor and the slower pace adds a further tactical dimension to matches.

#NextGenATP players Jared Donaldson and Reilly Opelka are taking this challenge head on, embarking on the clay-court season at the 2017 Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open in Bradenton, Florida.

Donaldson, at No. 74 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, reached the quarter-finals at the United Tennis Club this week (l. Millot), nearly one year removed from his first final appearance on clay at the 2016 ATP Challenger Tour event in Savannah.

“It’s different for all players, but getting your footing on the clay is important,” said Donaldson’s coach Jan-Michael Gambill, a former World No. 14 and three-time ATP World Tour titlist.

“The fact that Jared went to Argentina (Buenos Aires) for a couple years and trained on clay is in his favour. He already moves quite well on it. One of the things we’re continuing to work on is continuing to make him better with his fitness. Working on his legs and his movement, which has really improved.”

Gambill, who began working with Donaldson at the beginning of the 2017 season, insists once a player understands the complexities of playing on clay courts, then the task becomes less daunting.

“He needs more matches on clay, so Sarasota fits perfectly into our training block before we go over there,” added Gambill. “On clay, there are always strategies to work on like moving further back to return serve because the ball is kicking higher. Sometimes it’s just about understanding the court positioning and that you need to play longer points, but he gets that.” 

Since turning professional in 2015, Opelka has played a majority of his matches on the hard courts. However, the 19 year old is willing to put in the hard yards to adapt.

“When I train for clay, I like to practise for two hours and then my coach Diego Moyano will leave and my strength and conditioning coach will come out on court right away. We’ll work for another hour on cardio and movement,” revealed Opelka. “More on clay we’ll do that and work on movement with the medicine ball and also sliding.

“It’s a different concept of how you’re playing. For me, it’s still pretty similar as I’m looking to serve big and it gives me a lot of time to set up balls. My serve is just as effective I’d say. I go for my serve with the same mindset of not letting the back come back. That’s on any surface.”

The towering teenager, standing at 6’11” tall, hopes to close in on the Top 100 by the end of the grass court season in July. He’ll need some breakthrough moments on the red dirt of the European clay, but Opelka is buoyed by the French destinations.

“The green clay in the U.S. is completely different from the red clay. It’s a lot of adjusting every week. I grew up in Florida and only played on clay then. But now there’s only two months a year on clay – four to five tournaments,” said Opelka. “I do enjoy it though, especially going to France is great. I’m playing in Bordeaux in a few weeks and I’m pretty excited to go over there.”

Donaldson and Opelka will both continue their clay-court campaigns in Europe, with Donaldson next slated to hit the red dirt of the Mutua Madrid Open and Opelka seeking to qualify there and compete at the prestigious BNP Paribas Primrose Bordeaux on the ATP Challenger Tour.

Andy Murray is wasting no time getting back on the clay after his third-round exit from the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. The Scot has accepted a late wild card into the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell and will be the top seed at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament this week.

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Murray joins an already must-see field in the Spanish city. Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal will be going for his 10^th title, and World No. 9 Dominic Thiem and Monte-Carlo semi-finalist David Goffin also will be looking to hone their games on the red dirt. #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev will be making his second appearance in Barcelona after also accepting a late wild card.

Murray won’t have to worry about Nadal until the final but Thiem has been drawn in Murray’s half. The World No. 1 could meet Aussie Bernard Tomic or “Hot Shot Machine” Dustin Brown in the second round, and a third-round meeting against 16^th seed Feliciano Lopez could await.

In the quarter-finals, one of two Spanish clay-court mavens could meet Murray, either Albert Ramos-Vinolas, who has reached the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final, or sixth seed Roberto Bautista Agut. The fourth-seeded Thiem is the on-paper favourite to meet Murray in the semi-finals.

Nadal could face compatriot and longtime friend David Ferrer in the third round. Barcelona fans could see Nadal face Zverev in the quarter-finals, which would be their third FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting this season and fourth overall. Nadal leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 3-0.

The fifth-seeded Goffin could meet 11^th seed Pablo Cuevas in the third round. Both players are coming off strong runs in Monte-Carlo, with Goffin reaching his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final and Cuevas knocking off World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka before falling in the quarter-finals.

Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez advanced to their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team doubles final on Saturday at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. They will now face Rohan Bopanna and Pablo Cuevas or wild cards Romain Arneodo and Hugo Nys in a bid to win their third tour-level team title.

The Spaniards reached their fourth title match (2-1 overall) after they defeated second-seeded French duo and defending champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-1, 7-6(4) in 78 minutes. Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo were the last Spanish team to capture the prestigious title in 2008, when they defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

Feliciano Lopez has a 3-9 record in doubles finals, while Marc Lopez is 13-16 lifetime (3-3 in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals). The pair clinched the Roland Garros title (d. Bryan-Bryan) in May 2016.

Lopez and Lopez secured their first break on a deciding deuce point on Mahut’s serve at 1-1, when Herbert struck a volley into the net. The Spaniards’ power helped them to break Herbert to love for a 4-1 lead, and they converted their second set point chance when Marc Lopez forced a Mahut backhand volley error to clinch the 23-minute opener.

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Feliciano Lopez recovered from 0/30 to win the first game of the second set and the Spaniards went on to break Herbert for a 3-1 lead, when Herbert hit a backhand volley into the net at 30/40. Once Lopez and Lopez led 4-1, the French duo sparked into life with clever inter-play and Herbert, particularly, finding his range on the forehand. They clinched Feliciano Lopez’s serve to 30 for 4-5, when an aggressive Herbert struck a backhand volley winner.

Team Lopez gained a 3/1 lead in the tie-break, but were quickly pinned back. When Mahut served at 4/5, Marc Lopez struck a forehand return down the line that Herbert mis-timed on the volley. Herbert then committed another volley error on match point and team Lopez improved to a 6-6 record on the season.

Last week, Marc Lopez reached the Grand Prix Hassan II doubles final with another Spaniard Marcel Granollers, losing to Dominic Inglot and Mate Pavic 6-4, 2-6, 11-9.