Pink court at French Open is a Pepto-Bismol eyesore
The clay at Roland Garros' Bullring was transformed from red to pink on Thursday for a day honoring women at the French Open. Martina Navratilova and Jana Novotna took on Nathalie Tauziat and Sandrine Testud in a legends match (guess they're using that term lightly for the latter three) on the pink surface.
[Rewind: Tennis players consider boycott of Madrid's new blue courts | Photos]
Navratilova and Novotna won the match in three sets. Martina seemed thrilled when asked about playing on pink. "Uh ... I guess we'll play on it," she said.
She wasn't the only one who didn't think pink was the new red. ESPNW said it was insulting that the French would have a day honoring women, let alone one which changes a court to cotton candy colors. Others compared it Pepto-Bismol.
The best way for Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or David Ferrer to dethrone Rafael Nadal at the French has nothing to do with aggressiveness or defense or big serves. Nope, the optimal strategy: Figure out a way to get the semifinals and/or finals moved from Court Philippe Chatrier to Court 1, whereupon the new pink clay will cause Nadal to run out of the stadium in fear like Wile E. Coyote and win by default. There's no other way, really.
[Photos: Images from the 2012 French Open]
Nadal hasn't commented on the courts yet. Rest, rest assured, he'd despise them. The Spaniard hasn't dropped a set this year on the normal red clay of Europe but was a bust on the blue clay of Madrid. He lashed out at tournament organizers for weeks before the tournament, complained while he was there, flamed out early in a loss to Fernando Verdasco and has spent the subsequent two tournaments taking backhanded shots at the Smurf courts.
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