Blue Clay: Did It Look Good?

Ion Tiriac experimented with blue clay courts (we are told) to improve the viewing experience for us. He thought traditional red clay did not look as attractive as the blue courts used during most of the hard court season. He also thought that many viewers had problems tracking the ball on red clay and that it would be easier to do so if the clay was dyed blue.

Did this experiment succeed? Did it look good?

No I didn´t like it at all .. the shade of blue was really quite off-putting to me I cannot imagine what it was like sitting court side..
Clay is clay as far as Im concerned and clay is red

RG which I know is above the normal clay red I found no problem tracking the ball at all.Most people have HD tv these days which makes a huge difference.

I do not mind it being Blue, if the surface can behave like 'clay', which did not happen at Madrid.

laverfan. So you "do not mind it being blue" but do you like it being blue? Did it look good? Did you like the look of it more than traditional red clay?

Don't worry about what the surface behaved like. As a member of the public you should just judge it on it's appearance.

Thankyou for the apology for what I took as a snide comment on the other thread. I know you wouldn't be snide intentionally...

hawkeye wrote:laverfan. So you "do not mind it being blue" but do you like it being blue? Did it look good? Did you like the look of it more than traditional red clay?

Don't worry about what the surface behaved like. As a member of the public you should just judge it on it's appearance.

For someone who only watches Tennis via Internet streams on a 640 x 360 stream (H-n... I am unwilling to pay 150 quid a month for cable subscriptions to pipe HDTV into my home), 'blue' does make it a better viewing experience. For example, Madrid and Nice were a complete contrast to each other.

As a member of the 'public', I also care about the safety of the players in a sport I love, HE.

150 quid per month... Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze Ive just had Sky HD TV fitted
275 euros (first three months free) and then 50 euros every 3 months...
Wow LF that is extortion... Ill excuse you Blue Clay on that basis but I dont somehow think Ion Tiriac will be thinking of you next year

0h and by the way the above was for 600 channels.

Sorry HE Im off topic

Haddie-nuff wrote:150 quid per month... Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze Ive just had Sky HD TV fitted
275 euros (first three months free) and then 50 euros every 3 months...
Wow LF that is extortion... Ill excuse you Blue Clay on that basis but I dont somehow think Ion Tiriac will be thinking of you next year

In USD, I would have paid 84.99 for installation, 44.99 for a two year contract just for TV, bundling gets me a landline phone, TV and internet for 148.99 per month with a two-year contract.

May I suggest that you install a SlingBox and I can piggy-back of your TV connection and pay you half of your monthly bill.

BTW, I could probably watch 5 channels, 10 at the most. 600 channels is overkill.

I would have considered moving to Spain, but for it's economy.

I quite agree LF ... I think I could shuttle my connection all over the place at the moment... 600 channels is ott I agree.. however I do watch quite a few that I havent seen before and we have 12 sports channels which keeps me and the other half talking to each other (he is football and me tennis) and two tv´s so at least we dont argue.

Economy is pretty grim I agree but when you are retired it doesn´t affect you like the young people. The weather is a killer though at the moment .

Trouble with the blue clay was the 'dirt' barely got stuck to the ball, it was a bit like indoor hard court. Madrid used to be played on hardcourts before it got swapped with clay anyway, which is why I don't get how you can possibly threaten to boycott it when it has never been exclusive to only clay.

The trouble, as the organisers admitted, was that they incorrectly laid the surface so that the top and under-layers did not bond properly, hence it was far more slippery than they intended.
Plus it looked naff.

Yes Julius I agree it was not bonding especially at the back of the court... it was like skating around on ball berrings apparently. This does not happen on normal clay courts as we know.

Haddie-nuff wrote:I quite agree LF ... I think I could shuttle my connection all over the place at the moment... 600 channels is ott I agree.. however I do watch quite a few that I havent seen before and we have 12 sports channels which keeps me and the other half talking to each other (he is football and me tennis) and two tv´s so at least we dont argue.

If I had just BBC (Dr. Who) and Tennis. I am also watching Fawlty Towers and some of the older shows.

Haddie-nuff wrote:Economy is pretty grim I agree but when you are retired it doesn´t affect you like the young people. The weather is a killer though at the moment .

This side of the pond is not much better either in terms of the economy. Re your weather, it does look pretty hot. http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/6299345

JuliusHMarx wrote:The trouble, as the organisers admitted, was that they incorrectly laid the surface so that the top and under-layers did not bond properly, hence it was far more slippery than they intended.
Plus it looked naff.

I would be fine with the surface friction issues being fixed, while keeping it blue.

Where exactly are you located LF...????

Those temps are Madrid always cooler there.. we have had 40deg in the last week

Haddie-nuff wrote:Where exactly are you located LF...????

PM for you.