By Former top 10 tennis player from the United States, Mardy Fish has kicked up a storm on social media. Fish has directly accused the ATP Tour of being biased towards Rafael Nadal, even though it is believed that in his heyday, Roger Federer was the favorite of administrators, media and fans alike. Fish’s latest comments have come after Christopher Clarey, journalist and Roger Federer’s biographer, complained about the pathetic viewing experience he had while watching the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 on television.
Christopher Clarey wrote the biography ‘The Master’ in 2021 on Roger Federer. Clarey took to X to voice out his complaint in response to fellow journalist, Ben Rothenberg’s tweet. Clarey ended his post with a poignant remark, which was cleverly put to take a dig at the ATP Tour administrators. Here’s what he wrote.
“Watching Djokovic and De Minaur on TV and struggling to see and follow the ball on the reddish clay. Somebody tried to solve this once….” wrote Clarey on his X.
Ben Rothenberg wrote on his X, “I say this every clay season. It’s a main reason why clay is by far my least favorite surface to watch (especially at tournaments where the color is more orangey, like Barcelona).”
Alongside, Clarey posted a picture of a blue court, with Federer, in a blue t-shirt, about to hit a shot. This image was from the 2012 Madrid Masters. Clarey was hinting at the fact that somebody tried to solve the problem posed by red clay (visual problems in TV etc) by introducing blue clay during the 2012 Madrid Masters. But somehow, after a year, it was gone and never brought back.
The person who introduced it was former Romanian player Ion Tiriac, who is also the richest tennis player of all time. Now, as to why the blue clay court was abandoned, Mardy Fish has a theory which is eye-grabbing but not proven to be true yet.
At first, Fish wrote “Ahhhh the blue clay of Madrid” below Clarey’s post. But it was after this that he made his accusation quite clear; nothing subtle about it.
“Super slippery. And Rafa didn’t win… so, it was gone the next year,” wrote Mardy Fish.
Rothenberg simply agreed with Clarey and further insisted that tournaments like the Barcelona Open are even more jarring to watch because of its orange clay; another tournament where Nadal has dominated. Ben Rothenberg is a journalist from Washington DC for the New York Times, who has written the biography ‘Naomi Osaka: Her Journey to Finding Her Power and Her Voice’. Rothenberg also wrote about the blue clay court in the Madrid Masters 2012 for the New York Times in 2016.
Roger Federer’s famous win on blue clay at the Madrid Masters 2012
Rafael Nadal has won the Monte Carlo Masters 11 times, the Barcelona Open 12 times, and the Madrid Masters 5 times in his career so far. All of them are records in those respective tournaments’ history. However, in 2012, Nadal didn’t even make it to the quarterfinals. He lost to Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 5-7 in the 3rd round of the tournament. While Nadal didn’t win, his arch-rival Roger Federer had a great tournament that year.
Roger Federer won the 3rd and last Madrid Masters title of his career that year. He beat Tomas Berdych 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final, winning the match after being one set down. It was exceptional to watch Federer that season. This remains one of his best wins on clay. Interestingly, Federer remains the only men’s singles player till date to have won the Madrid Masters on 3 different surfaces, i.e. on outdoors hard, red clay and blue clay.
