Andre Agassi was one of the first players on the ATP Tour from the
United States to gain supremacy in all surfaces of the game and not many have been able to adapt as well as him from the country. Agassi won 7 clay court titles in total and collected over a staggering $1.2 million from those wins on the surface. At the
French Open itself, the 8-time Grand Slam champion featured in 17 editions while winning 51 matches. He earned over $1.7 million with his performances in the tournament, with $668,520 not surprisingly coming from the 1999 French Open win alone. Andre Agassi recorded a 75 percent win on the surface and found himself to be comfortable on the red dirt from the beginning of his career. In 1988, the then-18-year-old went on a 14-match winning streak on clay and captured two consecutive titles on his way. Agassi reached at least the quarterfinals in all six events he played on clay that year. He won three clay court titles then itself and reached the semifinals of a grand slam for the first time during the 1988 French Open. The former world No.1 won approximately 6 percent of his total career prize money on clay courts, which is around $31.15 million. Andre Agassi played his first match on the red dirt in 1987 and 18 years and 207 matches after that, he played his final match on clay at the French Open, where he lost in the opening round to Jarkko Nieminen. Since his retirement though, no player has won an ATP Masters 1000 title nor a Grand Slam on clay. Andre Agassi also has the honor of being the last
American to find success in the clay swing, winning the Rome Masters in 2002 by defeating Tommy Haas in the final. When Andre Agassi decoded why Americans struggle on clay Players such as Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, and Sebastian Korda have been rising to the occasion at times on clay. But they are nowhere near what Agassi was on the surface. The 1996 Olympics gold medallist mentioned in a 2014 interview with Nevada Appeal that the lack of clay courts in the US has been one of the reasons why players are not able to find success on the surface. Andre Agassi believes that players need a lot of discipline to play on the clay courts. After securing a win in the third round of the 1995 French Open, Agassi confessed in the post match press conference then that he chose physical toughness over mental toughness while playing on the surface. Even during his victory in the 1999 French Open, Agassi decided to play aggressively and end points quickly. It takes a lot of patience and risk to get the wins on clay. This season, there was only one clay court event taking place in the
USA out of 9 events in the men’s categories. Only if the American players are exposed to more matches on clay from their junior days, can they excel on the surface. Players have been in form on hard courts but with their lack of experience on clay, it has been tough on them. Additionally, the scheduling of tournaments like Monte Carlo Masters, right after the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami Open) make American players wish to either play in home events or train there and then move to the clay swing to play in tournaments just before the French Open. The Monte Carlo Masters is also not a compulsory event for top players to participate in, which reduces American chances of success on clay.