Tennis: Clay is Kryptonite for American players and for bettors - but Abrams tries to pick the U.S. Clay Court quarterfinals

U.S. Men’s Clay Courts
Houston, Texas
Quarterfinals

Men’s tennis on clay? Yup. Not too much of it at high levels in the U.S. these days, and this tournament is proof of that. In years past, the United States produced some players who could actually win on this stuff, and some who were excellent on it. Think back to not so long ago when Jim Courier, Michael Chang and Andre Agassi won Grand Slam tournaments on it at the French Open. Other Americans who excelled on clay included Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Brian Gottfried, Harold Solomon and Eddie Dibbs, among others. But, in general, Europeans, South Americans, and some Russians tend to dominate, with those from Spain and France having become particularly impressive on the stuff.

Nowadays, most Americans don’t play well on the slippery stuff, and generally tend to avoid most tournaments played on clay figuring it might be better to just practice on hard courts and get ready for the tournaments played on faster surfaces. After all, clay court tennis puts a premium on patience, consistency, and counter-tactics. Most Americans learn to attack, whether it’s through a strong base-line game, or approaching net, and then trying to put the ball away. Here on clay, the game is not won . . . it’s lost. And there’s the rub. Americans try to win, and clay is their kryptonite.

So, when you look at the draw in Houston, it smacks you right in the face that in this 32-man draw eleven were Americans, and only two of them won their first match. Even top-seeded Stevie Johnson (don’t get me started on seeds . . . .) , the man with no backhand, couldn’t notch a win here, losing to a qualifier.

So today in the quarters we have a collection of Europeans, and South Americans along with an Aussie, and the one American who was able to come through to the Round of Eight, Sam Querrey. Who’s going to win these matches? I really have very little idea, because most of these guys don’t excel in big tournaments, and aren’t big names in the States. Even so, there are some clues as to who is playing well, and who could have a chance to add their name to a most distinguished group of former Tour players who have hoisted the U.S. Men’s Clay Court trophy as champion.

So my quick-picks are:
Jordan Thompson over Daniel Elahi Galan
Casper Ruud over Marcel Granollers
Janko Tipsarevic over Sam Querrey
Christian Garin over Henri Laaksonen