Of Roland Garros's terre battue

The Most Bruising Among Surfaces

- Sharda Ugra

One of the many factors that made the Carlos Alcaraz-Jannik Sinner Roland Garros final remarkable was its duration: 5h29m. Before Sunday, the longest French Open final was 4h24min, Mats Wilander v Guillermo Vilas, an hour and five minutes shorter. Rafa's longest final lasted 3h49m vs Novak Djokovic in 2012, his longest match at the venue 4h 53m, vs Paul Henri Mathieu, fourth round 2006.

What Sinner and Alcaraz did was give to their audience over an unusually lengthy period of time an exhibition of cut-glass shot-making and creativity on a surface that demands precision quality at every exchange.

Clay is the most bruising of tennis surfaces because it blunts power, reduces the serve to an opening salvo and offers at least a semblance of a level playing field to the hard-running counter-puncher. Every stroke, every rally, every game is a ceaseless inquisition. Over footspeed and agility, awareness of court geometry, control of stroke play over shoulder and at ankle, and endurance of muscle, heart and lung.

The fine powder of Roland Garros's brilliant orange, the 'terre battue', its crushed earth ends up everywhere. On the players' clothes, caking their bodies following tumbles and slides and lunges during play. It is rumoured that some of this magic powder dust may even have found its way into M. Fourteen's bloodstream. In the RG merchandise store, not only does the colour dominate every product, "authentic" powdered clay has also been packed into keychains (15 & 25 euros) and there's a 15 euro "snow globe" which upon shaking produces a 'clay storm' confetti over the Chatrier court.