By MaliVai Washington from ESPN.com
5 May 2003

Juan Carlos Ferrero is on fire. No matter what happens in the coming weeks, you have to think he’s the favorite going into the French Open.

Roger Federer looks like this finally might be the year he breaks out to win a Grand Slam event.

There is no question Ferrero is one of the top two or three players on clay and that’s been the case for the past two years. With Gustavo Kuerten still rebounding and trying to find his form after his injury-filled year and a half, there’s no question that Ferrero is the front-runner of those who can contend on clay.
He’s good enough and has the advantage that at a young age he determined the style he wants to play on clay. A lot of players will go for the first part of their career not sure what their style will be, questioning “am I going to come in more or stay back.” On clay, Ferrero knows exactly how he wants to play.

Regardless of how he does in Rome or Hamburg, you have to pick him as a heavy contender leading into Paris. Look at the wins he’s had just this week alone. He took out Mark Philippoussis, not someone you’d consider a clay-court player but who has the ability and shots to win on clay. Ferrero beat him in straight sets and then the following round beat his countryman Alex Corretja, who is one of the top seven or eight clay-court players right now. Corretja’s been in the finals of the French Open on two occasions and Ferrero took him out, also in straight sets. On Thursday, he lost his first set in 15 matches to the man he lost his last set to — Gaston Gaudio.

So, Ferrero knows the style of game that is going to allow him to succeed on clay. For me, being a player who was better on a faster surface, I look forward to Ferrero also learning what style of game he wants to have on a faster surface like carpet or hard court. There’s no reason why he can’t be highly successful on surfaces other than red clay.

Every ATP event has some of the best players in the world. To think that Ferrero could go through the tournament with the caliber of players he faced in Valencia without losing a set is baffling. Compare it to Andre Agassi in Houston, where he won his first four matches without losing more than 10 games. Not only does it build Ferrero’s confidence, but it also makes other players stand up and take notice of how well he’s playing on red clay. They know if Ferrero is remotely on his game that day they are going to have to play exceptionally well to beat him. That’s not always the best frame of mind you want to be in on the court. So not only does he have the physical edge, he has the mental edge against any player right now on red clay.