LONDON (AP) — The blue clay that made Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic feel, well, blue at last month’s Madrid Open is going away.
In a posting on the tour’s website Saturday, ATP President Brad Drewett says he decided blue clay courts will not be allowed at tour events next season.
He says that while the new color, in place of the traditional red clay, “may have offered better visibility on television, there were clearly issues with the quality of the courts in Madrid this year, which were not acceptable.”
The ATP gave the Madrid tournament permission to test out the blue courts in 2012. After losses, Nadal and Djokovic said they didn’t like the way the courts played and vowed not to return in 2013 unless a change was made.
