Rafael Nadal and Bjorn Borg are the best clay-court specialists, according to Paul McNamee, but Carlos Alcaraz will soon catch up to them on the surface. The 20-year-old was also favored by the Australian to win this year’s French Open.
Known affectionately as the “King of Clay,” Rafael Nadal has a number of records that attest to his supremacy on the court. With 63 clay court wins under his belt, including a record 14 French Open victories, the Spaniard is truly remarkable. Additionally, he has a 63-8 win-loss record in all of the clay court finals in which he has competed.Six French Open championships were won by Borg, who was one of the most feared men’s tennis players of the 1970s and early 1980s. With 49 wins out of only two encounters at Roland Garros, the Swede is second only to Rafael Nadal in terms of his win-loss record at the clay court Major.
Even at just twenty years old, Alcaraz has already demonstrated that the red dirt is the ideal playing surface for his aggressive, tenacious style of play. The most sought-after clay court title, the French Open, is still eluded the two-time Grand Slam champion. On the other hand, he has already emerged victorious in a number of major surface tournaments, including the Madrid Open and the Barcelona Open.McNamee recently dubbed Nadal and Borg the “grand masters” of the surface and likened clay-court tennis to chess. Additionally, he provided a condensed comparison between clay and hard court tennis.
The only two Spaniards to advance to the Madrid Open’s fourth round are Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.In their separate third-round matches, the two men had somewhat different victories: Nadal needed three hours and six minutes to defeat Pedro Cachin 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3, while Alcaraz easily defeated Thiago Seyboth Wild 6-3, 6-3.The 37-year-old’s next opponent in the Round of 16 will be 30th seed Jiri Lehecka. The winner will then play either Daniil Medvedev or Alexander Bublik in the quarterfinals.In contrast, Carlos Alcaraz will face Jan-Lennard Struff, the 23rd seed, in a rematch of the 2023 Madrid Open final. Whoever wins will face either Tallon, ranked 24th, or Andrey Rublev, ranked sixth.
