Brit stars make mental switch and learn to love French Open clay

Six British players – three men and three women – won their ­opening matches at Roland Garros this week, a statistic that would be totally unremarkable for many countries, especially Spain, Italy or the United States, who have always had strength in numbers. For Britain, it may ­represent a seismic shift.

Until about 30 years ago, most tournaments in Britain were played on grass, a surface that lends itself to serve and volley and shorter points. With the ­notable exceptions of Andy Murray, who reached the final here in 2016, Sue Barker, who won the women’s title in 1976, and Tim Henman, who enjoyed an unlikely run to the semis in 2004, British players used to pack light for Paris, counting the days until they could get on the grass.

But things are starting to change. In Jack Draper, who in the past 12 months has become a genuine title threat on all surfaces, and Cam Norrie, who beat Jacob Fearnley last night in an all-British third-round battle, Britain has two men in the last 16 here for the first time since 1963. Three men reached the third round for the first time since 1968, Fearnley v Norrie was the first time in the Open era that two Britons had ever met after the first round, and three women – Emma Raducanu, Katie Boulter and Sonay Kartal – all reached round two.

The United States are also enjoying a better than expected run at this year’s French Open, with eight men and women through to the last 16 for the first time in 40 years. Australian Open champion Madison Keys extended her Grand Slam winning streak to 10 matches when she beat another former American, Sofia Kenin, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, saving three match points in the final set. Coco Gauff and Jess Pegula also won, as did world No 70 Hailey Baptiste, who also has the fastest serve of the event so far, at 198kmh (123mph).

“I think mentally there might be a shift,” said Kartal, who is set to break into the world’s top 50. “I’ve always been super-positive because I love the clay. But the rest of the girls, they all seem in a really good place. They seem much more confident on it. You can see they’re much more comfortable with moving on the clay.”

The performances of world No5 Draper, who crushed the talented Brazilian João Fonseca 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to reach the fourth round for the first time, have been an ­inspiration. Draper won the ­prestigious Masters 1000 title in Indian Wells this year and made the final on clay in Madrid, ­demonstrating increasing maturity and a fast-­improving game.

Fearnley, like Kartal, has enjoyed an incredible rise up the rankings, going from outside the top 600 at the start of 2024 to a place inside the top 50 after this fortnight. Close friends with Draper as teenagers, Fearnley went to university in the United States, where the intensity of the team environment stood him in good stead for his transition to the pro Tour. Norrie, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist and another US college graduate from the same Texas Christian University as Fearnley, has always enjoyed clay.

Leon Smith has been Britain’s Davis Cup captain since 2010. Murray’s coach as a teenager, he also spent time as the head of ­women’s ­tennis and knows the players well. For Smith, the improvements on clay are down to the fact that Britain is beginning to ­produce rounded players who can ­perform on any surface.

“I know there’s stuff written about records broken, number of players in the second round, which is great, but I think what’s more important is that there’s a few more better players,” Smith told The Observer.

What some players have taken time to appreciate is that working hard on clay and putting miles in the legs pays dividends down the line, at Wimbledon and beyond.

“If you play enough matches on it, you get a lot of confidence, you hit a lot of balls, and it feels physical,” Smith said. “What happened before to our players that weren’t exposed on clay, you might sneak in some of the tournaments but you’re losing early and then your match count just drops. I even saw it when Dan Evans had a better clay season, his game was so tuned then for the grass.“I think also, for the next ­generation of British players, [the message is] get good on clay, because there’s a lot of opportunities. The demographics of this group is also pretty positive. That’s really ­important. It gives a lot of confidence to the younger ones because the more they see those under 25s doing it, then those who are 16, 17, 18, they can see what’s possible. That’s got to be ­capitalised on.”