How have British men improved on clay?

French Open 2025

Dates: 25 May-8 June Venue: Roland Garros

Coverage: Live power commentaries crossed 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, positive unrecorded matter commentaries connected nan BBC Sport website and app

For nan first clip successful almost 60 years, 3 British men person reached nan French Open singles 3rd round.

Jack Draper beat location favourite Gael Monfils successful a Thursday nighttime thriller to subordinate Jacob Fearnley and Cameron Norrie successful nan past 32.

Norrie had earlier flooded Argentine qualifier Federico Gomez, while Fearnley progressed erstwhile French force Ugo Humbert retired pinch injury.

And location is guaranteed to beryllium astatine slightest 1 Briton successful nan 4th information for nan first clip successful 8 years, pinch Norrie and Fearnley gathering connected Saturday night.

Success has been scarce for British men connected nan clay courts astatine Roland Garros since 1968 - erstwhile world number 1 Andy Murray aside.

So what, if anything, has changed?

British number 1 Draper has go a genuine unit connected clay, having reached nan Madrid Open last past period and climbed to 5th successful nan world.

Fearnley, besides 23, is continuing to make encouraging strides successful his first afloat play arsenic a professional, while 29-year-old Norrie has rediscovered his shape aft a testing fewer years.

Such advancement has not happened overnight.

Former British number 1 Annabel Croft travelled to America to train connected clay during her playing career.

"It was specified an alien surface. It was for illustration different players coming complete from America and learning really to play connected grass. It was for illustration a different sport," she said connected BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.

"When you're abruptly going connected to a clay court, nan shot is coming backmost and you learned really to conception a point.

"The full mentality becomes thing wholly different."

Last year's first-round wipeout of British singles players prompted different inquest into nan deficiency of British occurrence connected clay.

Historically, British players person not had arsenic overmuch vulnerability to clay courts arsenic galore of their rivals, peculiarly those from different European and South American nations.

The LTA said successful 2024 location were astir 1,300 clay-courts successful Great Britain - astir 5% of nan 23,000 full number of courts. In contrast, astir 60% of courts successful Spain - 1 of nan starring nations connected nan aboveground - are clay.

But much accommodation are now being built to thief nan astir talented youngsters summation acquisition connected clay.

The LTA has 4 clay courts - built to nan aforesaid specification of nan courts utilized astatine nan Monte Carlo Masters - astatine nan National Tennis Centre successful Roehampton.

The governing assemblage is besides continuing to "form caller partnerships" pinch clay-court accommodation successful Barcelona and Girona truthful young players tin be camps and training sessions.

Norrie and Fearnley's improvement took spot overseas, pinch some players attending nan Texas Christian University successful America. It helped create a steely mentality - thing truthful important connected clay courts.

"Norrie is very overmuch personification who Fearnley and nan others astatine TCU looked up to," said BBC tennis analogous Russell Fuller.

"Norrie would travel backmost to believe while he was an ATP Tour subordinate aft he won Indian Wells and had occurrence successful different large tournaments.

"Fearnley and nan others sewage a chance to believe pinch him and Norrie was nan man they were trying to emulate.

"The level of title connected that circuit, playing a batch of matches distant from home, builds nan temperament and characteristic of individual players. It is simply a very precocious standard."

Before nan play began, Draper and Fearnley were shown practising sliding successful a video posted by nan LTA.

Sliding is 1 of nan cardinal skills players must maestro to win connected clay.

"When that video was taken, it was astir apt nan first clip I was doing it since possibly 2017," Fearnley said.

"It's still thing I'm getting utilized to, and it is highly important, emotion nan movement.

"I would opportunity that is astir apt nan biggest quality connected clay - nan tennis stays beautiful similar, but it's much nan activity that is different."

By being capable to descent successful to a shot, players tin return nan shot from a protect position, and set their position much quickly to play a much fierce shot.

It tin beryllium important successful preventing a subordinate falling down successful a rally.

Clay is simply a overmuch slower aboveground than grass, which leads to longer points, much rallies and much running.

A precocious level of fittingness is non-negotiable - and has been 1 of nan cardinal reasons for Draper's occurrence connected clay this year. Fearnley and Norrie are some renowned for their engines, too.

Players must besides beryllium comfortable hitting nan shot successful a different way.

When you deliberation of 14-time champion Rafael Nadal holding tribunal astatine nan French Open, it is his lefty forehand that comes to mind.

The grip and follow-through pinch nan racquet allowed him to deed pinch dense apical rotation - a cardinal constituent of his success.

That is because adding much rotation to nan shot makes it bounce higher and forces an force further backmost down nan baseline, creating clip and abstraction to deed a winner.