If sound and fury is what look for in your tennis tournaments, you might be disappointed in what you see and hear at this year's Madrid Masters. Last season Ion Tiriac's blue-clay experiment made this the most talked-about event of 2012. It also sent both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal slipping and sliding—red-faced—out of the draw early. Both men promised boycotts if those courts were brought back, which is one big reason we’ve returned to traditional red dirt in 2013. With the blue should go the hue—and cry—of 2012.
The early word is that the surface playing more slowly than it has here in the past, though everything’s a little quicker in general in the Madrid altitude. Many of us will miss the groovy look of blue in photographs from the tournament this year, but it should be better preparation for Roland Garros, and a better predictor of success there, than it was last year.
The men’s draw is out, and almost all of the players who matter are present and accounted for—one exception is Juan Martin del Potro, who withdrew today with a viral infection. Too bad; the big man has won just one match since his run to the final at Indian Wells in March. Let’s see what the rest of his colleagues have ahead of them next week.