07/06 - Roland-Garros : "Clay"

SPORTS / TENNIS : ROLAND-GARROS / "Un Autre Regard" by Philippe Delerm / 07/06 - Roland-Garros : "Clay"

The real star of the French Open is the clay. The other "Grand Slam" events are hard, or as slick as cut grass. At the Roland Garros stadium, there's a subtle dialogue between player and playing surface. The most lively matches finish in chalky slides. These falls aren't mishaps but rather high points in the heroic resistance to the art of wrong-footing and to the unstoppable passing shot. The player rolling on the ground doesn't get up right away. He observes the ritual. A towel is brought to him, he slowly wipes his arms. His shorts and shirt are covered in red earth, often these must be changed. All these gestures occur methodically, with respectful magnanimity. This red ochre on the body is less the stigmata of a lost point than a kind of hieratic submission to the essence of the arena.At Roland Garros, you don't play on clay but with it. The slight pop of the bouncing ball, the muffled resonance diluting primal agressivity. The most efficacious attackers must learn to hold off, to contend with the drop shot.Warm colour of the ground, almost orange in the sun, so brown in the shade. A pigment of the imagination, because there are plenty of other tournaments on the same surface but the Roland Garros clay is mysteriously impregnated with what's at stake. The contentious points leave marks to be pointed out or erased, marks on the body, a noble dust on shoes and socks. You can't win unblemished. All wounds are visible. The winner can't forget any of it. He leaves the Philippe Chatrier Court with a crown of clay. — Philippe Delerm