I'm curious, how do they make the clay (or whatever the 'natural' substance is) blue?
Do you think it is an environmentally safe procedure?Perhaps there is a blueish shale or slate. I think they have green 'clay' courts in the US but are these a little faster then the european red courts? You know, what I have seen of this new courts doesn't really remind me of the beautiful blue spanish sky, more like the grey of a fogged in London (GB) or Halifax (Canada).

Ah ... new photo ... good cobalt blue

or maybe cerulean ... sorry

phew! phew! phew! it does not look clay at all !!! phew! curse to that idea of making the clay blue curse curse curse...I don't even want to watch even a single match.

malterse1, enough with your endless ranting at UNIMPRESSED thread, come on lady put all your effort here to condemn the blue clay, unless you wanna have a long conversation again!

Raindrops- It is only on one training court atm. The matches will be played on red clay this year (seemingly the following years aswell)

Blue clay?? It really is a ridiculous idea, Rafa and Roger are correct in condemning it. Clay is traditionally orange. Why was the decision made to turn Madrid into a clay court tournament in the first place? Why would they change to clay, and then want the clay to be the standard hard court colour? Doesn't make sense.

Roger AND Rafa both agree that in this instance, tradition should rule out. Someone on another site said they heard in a Spanish interview with the organizer that blue is also the tournament's main color. Madrid is trying so hard to be different from the other tourneys (try checking their main page out--lol), that it seems they forgot it was supposed to be about tennis. Like Raindrops said in another thread, Rafa has the right to complain being the VP of the ATP Players Council. So does Roger being the President of the same and according to Roger's words, Madrid tried to change to blue in what some would say is "underhanded" way by not following procedure. Roger is right......you don't ask individual players because that could end up dividing the players.

I'm glad that finally we have an issue where both the Rafa and Fed fans could agree.

Djokovic moving on this court would look like a sandstorm

i well wanna see djoko in his smurf outfir on the blue clay. it would be awesome

I'm curios.. the article says "You don't ask individual players" - Has there been any players in favor of this or suggested it?

awwwwww...raindrops...I didnt know you cared....am here to CONDEMN THE BLUE CLAY! CONDEMN IT! LISTEN TO FED! LISTEN TO RAFA! THEY KNOW WHAT THEY WANT!......how is that raindrops......?

Fan4tennis, my thoughts exactly. Rather than trying to "livin davida loca" , they need to get real and handle this like a serious Masters Series event.

Sib69, your comment made me laugh. Beware! Smurfs are taking over. This may just be the answer to your question SGHIceman. But in all seriousness, I am curious about that statement.

Topspin, I was thinking the same thing. Talk about mind games! They have a CLAY court but they elect to use the traditional color of a HARD court. They'll confuse the players into thinking they're playing on hard. :D I can see it now, mentally exhausted athletes, feeling as if they are in the twilight zone.

They claim it will play the same as a Red clay court, but I think we should leave that judgment up to those who actually KNOW how a clay court is supposed to play...aka..the PLAYERS. The BLUE clay court (sounds strange every time I say it) is nothing short of a publicity stunt.

Raindrops, tell me about it. The vision of blue clay alone is...gross.
Here's a pic of Tommy Robredo practicing on the...ah..I don't even want to type it anymore: http://d.yimg.com/i/ng/sp/p5/20090509/15/294890876.jpg

As for your comment Smr, excellent point! What, indeed, did they use to turn the Red Stuff blue? Is it safe? This is a extremely valid argument. What with the sliding, and falling, and gusts of wind, we've all seen how the dust can kick up and get in the players' faces and eyes. What if it's toxic? Did they use organic dye? Or synthetic chemicals? It'd be very interesting to see if this is brought up, because with the people in charge, I wouldn't take anything for granted.

Good on you Rafa and Rogelio, love to hear the two of you speaking out on this issue. It's good we're making a fuss, hopefully the tournament will get the message and this--BLUE CLAY idea will not become a trend. Heck, for all we know, we've probably just unknowingly put a stop to another great "brainstorm": Pink Wimbledon Grass.

I understand from the perspective of blue being the tournament colour, but Masters series events set the high standard for everything else. You can't have a rogue high-end tournament. Plus, a tennis court is not like a wall for you to take your pick of wallpapers just because it looks nice. Sports can only be influenced to a certain extent by trends. Eg. clothing. Before you know it, other tournaments may want blue clay. And then everyone will be trying to make some statement with court colour. Loved the pink Wimbledon grass comment, MiniArbre!

miniarbre - did you see the match when he was playing against tsonga in miami? they were both dressed almost exactly the same. it looked like two smurfs playing tennis. for the majority of the match i couldn't tell who was who

I'm curios.. the article says "You don't ask individual players" - Has there been any players in favor of this or suggested it?
SGHIceman , 5/10/09 8:01 P

We already know they asked Rafa what he thought of it. Maybe with Manolo Santana being part of this tournament, they figured they'd get Rafa to say it's nice and announce "The King of Clay Approves The Blue Clay!" and then they'd go from there. I doubt they liked his answer tho--lol. Maybe that's what Fed meant by his "You don't ask individual players" comment. We won't ever really know unless Fed elaborates on his comment. Madrid is probably hoping he doesn't since at least the top 2 players in the world are against it and that is not the publicity they want.

it probably was that silly verdasco that Manolo asked what do you think of blue clay.nando wants to be important so bad ,did any one see him showing the OC around in Madrid the other day?it would be the high light of his life is he won Madrid.

Thank God, I was hoping he would concur with Nadal. I tend to see him disagree with the poor boy on bizarre issues like this. It's only strange though because...wth is blue clay? I mean honestly, might be interesting for an exhibition but I don't want to see Rafa roll and look like a martian with he gets up after winning.

Topspin, that is exactly what I don't understand, how is it that Madrid was able to go about this in an underhanded way? I think the ATP needs to worry less about fining and drug testing players and focus more on what tournament managers and sponsors are doing!

As for my pink Wimbledon grass comment, I get creative when I'm annoyed ^_^

Sib69, hehe, yes definitely I remember that one. It was definitely an eyesore, and not just because of all the blue :P

I wonder if the *swallows* blue clay courts would turn the tennis balls blue? I can imagine right now, squeezing up to the TV because Djokovic's style has caught on and many of the other players have elected to wear blue shirts and shoes. So when they begin to play the tennis balls slowly begin to turn blue, and the players fade into the court and all we have to go by are the tennis rackets. XD

But that's the least of our and their worries. Dye has a very bad reputation for being...what's the term...TOXIC! And that's the last thing we want our tennis players playing on. I've already sent e-mails to the ATP and Madrid Open filled with inquiries and complaints.

BTW, so far the "Magic Box" doesn't impress. I'm not sure if it's completed yet.