Good to the Last Dropper

Four singles matches came and went in Rome on Saturday, but there was one character in the day’s drama who never left: The court. The clay in the main stadium at the Foro Italico has been a subject of much frustrated discussion—as well as a fair amount of slipping, sliding, and foot-stamping—among the players this week. An excess of water has led to divots behind one of the baselines, and despite days of maintenance work, the problem was never solved.

While some ankles have nearly rolled, no one has been seriously hurt while digging into the damaged dirt—tournament officials should consider themselves lucky. The surface also didn’t seem to have a negative effect on Saturday’s play: The two women’s semis were exceptionally entertaining, and the two winners on the men’s side were in fine form. Here are a few notes from a day when the players found creative ways to come out on top in the long rallies that always characterize the clay game.

On Friday I wrote an appreciation of Carla Suarez Navarro’s game in which I extolled, among another things, her backhand, forehand, movement, and demeanor. But watching her come back to beat Simona Halep in the semis, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, I realized that I had forgotten one of her major strengths, and one that she used to sneak past Halep in a tight and nervy third set: She knows how to play the angles.

Suarez Navarro is the only woman in the WTA’s current Top 40 who uses a one-handed backhand. We know that people love to watch this shot, and that it gives a player more options when it comes to spin. But Suarez Navarro’s one-hander also helps her hook the ball a little wider when she goes crosscourt, and the heavy, flick-of-the-wrist topspin she generates on the forehand side allows her to do the same in the other direction.

This added contrast to her rallies with Halep. While the Spaniard flicked the ball wide and sent Halep past the sidelines, the Romanian countered by going for her favored down-the-line winners while she was on the run. Both players struggled with their nerves and their serves, but Suarez Navarro’s shots were a little safer in the end.

Clay has a reputation as the game’s most one-dimensional surface. You just rally, the stereotype says, until someone misses. In reality, the clay game is an all-court game—as in, you must cover every inch of the court. This is because of the drop shot. Players have more time to set up on clay, and thus more time to throw in a delicate change of pace. If you want to win on dirt, you’re going to have to be ready to get off the baseline and charge the net to track these shots down.

Much like clay, Novak Djokovic and Maria Sharapova aren’t known for their variety. They’re known as relentless baseliners—the consensus is that she’s a ball basher and he’s a ball machine. If you saw them in Rome on Saturday, though, you'd know they’re more versatile, and have more of the human touch, than they get credit for.

Neither Djokovic nor Sharapova hesitated to throw in a drop shot in their semifinals. The dropper used to be a bail-out play for Djokovic; he would float one up when he wanted to pull the plug on a rally. Now it’s a regular part of his repertoire, and not surprisingly, it has improved. As for Sharapova, the drop shot gives her another way of winning a point against an opponent who makes her hit a lot of balls from the baseline.

Forehand, backhand, in front of the baseline, behind the baseline, ahead in the score, behind in the score: Djokovic and Sharapova played the dropper whenever they pleased, and it was a big part of their straight-set wins. The shot will also play a big role in determining whether their incipient French Open campaigns will be successful or not.

This is the nickname that came to my mind while watching 78th-ranked qualifier Daria Gavrilova over the last week in Rome. Yes, Gavrilova is only five years younger than Cibulkova, but her Energizer Bunny style can only be described as Domi-esque.

The 21-year-old never stops moving; she bounces and hops from one point to the next. Her blonde ponytail whirls behind her head, and the visor in front is slightly off-center, as if her constant, frenetic motion has pulled it askew.

A Russian native who trains in Australia, Gavrilova has spent much of 2015 living the Futures life in tennis way-stations with names like Burnie, Launcester, and Cagnes Sur Mer. But she might not be traveling that back road much longer. After qualifying and reaching the semifinals in Rome, Gavrilova is set to crack the Top 50 on Monday.

Before this week, she had made her biggest splash of 2015 when she stunned Sharapova in the first round in Miami; today Maria admitted, with relief, that her 7-5, 6-3 turnaround win was a good one for her. The match was, as they say, closer than the scores indicated, and the rallies were fierce, varied, and entertaining all the way.

Let’s hope we see more of Gavrilova in the future, and hear more from her coach, Nicole Pratt, on sideline visits. In her pep talks, the former pro from Australia was a model of forceful coaching wisdom. Tennis could do with more of both of these women.

Sharapova is the favorite. They’ve played four times, all on hard courts, and she has won three of them, each in straight sets. She has also won both of her previous finals in Rome, and has worked herself into something close to top form in her last two matches. On most days, Sharapova's power is going to be too much for Suarez Navarro’s high-bouncing spin.

But CSN has a few things going for her as well. Clay is her best surface, she has just knocked off Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep, and she beat Sharapova in three sets in Canada last summer, on a much faster court. But after her long semi, which she described as "exhausting," Sunday's final may be a step too far. Winner: Sharapova

Federer says he’s had the most success of anyone against the world No. 1 of late, and that’s true. Djokovic suffered one of his two losses of 2015 to Federer in Dubai, and he had to go to a third set to beat him in Indian Wells. Federer has also been seeing, and clubbing, the ball extremely well. He took Top 10 stalwarts Tomas Berdych and Stan Wawrinka to the proverbial woodshed (the dirt shed?) the last two days, 6-3, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-2.

But Djokovic, after dropping sets in his first three matches, played with calm opportunism in beating David Ferrer in the semis, 6-4, 6-4. He had success with pretty much everything he tried: High-bouncing topspin to push Ferrer back; drops shots to bring him up; big serves to close out the first set; and controlled aggression to close out the second set. Djokovic hasn’t looked perfect this week, but he has still looked No. 1. Winner: Djokovic