Why Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras could never mould their clay game

Many people believe that clay is a very difficult surface to master, and the French Open at Roland Garros is the toughest of all tournaments to win.

It’s a gruelling two-week marathon during which 128 players line up for the draw and a chance of victory, rubbing shoulders with the present day elite and champions of the past.

Only specialist clay court players are able to contend for the title and many of the world’s best players like Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and more recently Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, have all failed in their quest for the French Open title during their illustrious careers.

Once a player gets a taste of glory at this Grand Slam event then they seem to succeed nearly every year. Just look at Sergei Brugera, Gustavo Kuerten and three-times defending champion Rafael Nadal. I think that once you win this tournament you start to feel invincible, even though you aren't, of course.

There have been a few surprise champions like Andres Gomez, Michael Chang - not a clay court specialist - and more recently Gaston Gaudio. They were all outsiders when they won so it does go to show that a few upsets can happen, but not often.

It is difficult to play clay court tennis consistently over the best of three sets, but to play best of five sets through a 128-man draw simply means you have to be brilliant and cannot let the rhythm falter.

Of course the other Grand Slams are difficult to win also. The Australian Open is tough because it is at the beginning of the season and no one is particularly in form having only just come back from their December break. The tournament has had it fair share of upsets in both the men’s and women’s tournaments throughout the years.

Wimbledon is also a tough tournament. With hardly any grass court season nowadays players hardly get time to practice on the surface. This means players often have no warm-up and go straight from clay court to grass, which is very difficult.

It’s always good to get a pre-Wimbledon tournament under your belt just to get a feel for grass. If more tournaments were played on the surface then I am sure more players would stand a chance, but as it stands Roger Federer and Pete Sampras have reigned supreme over the past 15 years.

The US Open on hard courts is in the latter half of the season and many players are tired from their summer exertions. The good thing about the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open is that points can be won on service, and the rallies tend to be shorter.

It is true to say that the French Open may be the hardest Grand Slam to win for some players, but all four majors have their levels of difficulty.

Most top players have a surface on which they prefer to play, but most would also agree that clay is the most difficult to master – even for Nadal.