Sunday 5 June 2016 19:56, UK
Andy Murray has never been a fan of the red stuff but this year his form on the dirt made him a real contender as he reached his first French Open final.
The world No 2 came into Roland Garros with victory at the Rome Masters, and crucially that success came after beating Novak Djokovic for the first time on clay.
Murray also reached the final in Madrid where he was the defending champion and he proved he had the game to succeed on the red dirt. The British No 1 might have thought that he may never have a better chance of a third leg of a career Grand Slam, but it ultimately one man stood in his way - Djokovic!
Murray reached the semi-final in two of the last three years (beaten by Nadal in 2014 and Djokovic in 2015) and appeared to be at home in the attritional battle that is clay-court tennis. After all, he did spend formative teenage years at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona.
But after reaching his first Roland Garros final he lost his 10th major final to world No 1 Djokovic.
It was the Scot's first time playing for the trophy at Roland Garros and sees his record slide to two wins and eight defeats.
We delve into the archives and look back at how he has fared in Paris down the years.
2006 - First round - lost to Gael Monfils
Murray first faced Monfils when they were aged just 10 and 11 respectively at a junior tournament in Rouen - a match the spectacle-wearing Monfils won. This was their first Grand Slam meeting and it was the Parisian-born player who came out on top 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 1-6 6-2 6-1 in the battle of the 19-year-olds. Murray, who was making his French Open debut, was hampered by a back injury and although he battled through the pain-barrier, it was the flamboyant Frenchman who came through to the delight on the home crowd. "It just feels really tight," Murray explained afterwards. "I couldn't serve. It doesn't help when you're serving about 50 or 60 mph."
2008 - Third round - lost to Nicolas Almagro
Murray pulled out of the French Open in 2007 due to a wrist injury but returned the following year, recording a five-set victory over French wildcard Jonathan Eysseric to secure his first victory at Roland Garros. With that monkey off his back, the Scotsman wiped the floor with Jose Acasuso before coming up against wily old clay-court specialist Almagro and, despite Murray showing flashes of brilliance, he lost in four sets 6-3 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 7-5. "I think I proved I’m a good clay court player," said Murray after the match. "You saw by the way that he reacted at the end of the match that it was a tough match. To win against me on clay, it is a very good result - I'm not someone that’s going to be taken lightly on this surface in the future. I believe that I'm going to be one of the top players on clay in a couple years. I just need a bit more experience, a bit more strength and understanding of how to play and I'll be up there with the best players."
2009 - Quarter-final - lost to Fernando Gonzalez
This was the year Murray finally put a good run together in Paris. Injury-free and in good form the Briton looked odds-on to reach the final after Robin Soderling conquered Rafael Nadal in the fourth round top open up the draw. Murray had already beaten Juan Ignacio Chela, Potito Starace, Janko Tipsarevic and then Marin Cilic to reach the last eight in the most unpredictable men's French Open in years Murray came up unpredictable player in the top 20 in Chilean Fernando Gonzalez - a former Australian Open finalist.
Murray and Gonzalez had played twice heading into their latest encounter, with Gonzalez winning on a Swiss carpet in 2005 and the Briton coming from two sets to one down in the third round of the 2006 US Open. Despite a spirited challenge, Murray went down to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 6-4 loss after being out-muscled by the ferocious force of the 12th seed's forehand on Court Philippe Chatrier. "He was spanking winners. You can't do a whole lot about that," said Murray. "He's got the biggest forehand in tennis."
2010 - Fourth round - lost to Tomas Berdych
Murray opened his campaign with another classic, fighting back from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2 6-1 in a gripping battle. Juan Ignacio Chela and Marcos Baghdatis were both beaten in four to set up a meeting with Tomas Berdych for a place in the last eight. On a darkening Court Suzanne Lenglen the British No 1 made a limp exit after being thoroughly outplayed by the 15th-seeded Czech star in a rain-delayed match 6-4 7-5 6-3. "It was slow, wet, damp conditions. It was just heavy out there," Murray said. "The balls were gathering a lot of clay. The balls were brown by the end of the match. Just tough to see. It was dark in the end. But you can't make excuses about the conditions. It's exactly the same for the both of us. It's just tough conditions to play in, and he played better than me."
2011 - Semi-final - lost to Rafael Nadal
Murray's route to the last four was fairly untroubled without coming up against any of the big name stars, although there was the usual cliffhanger and that came in the last 16. Eric Prodon, Simone Bolelli and Michael Berrer were easily dispatched before he came through a five-set epic against the unpredictable Viktor Troicki to set up a quarter-final against wily campaigner Juan Ignacio Chela. Murray prevailed in straight sets but it was anything but straightforward. Next up was an ultimate test on the Roland Garros clay against five-time champion Rafael Nadal. The 24-year-old Scot converted only three of a bountiful 18 break points created against the Spaniard who ran away with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 success to reach yet another final. "Rafa is a better player than me on clay and has been since I've known him. That's a fact, but I feel I've closed the gap this year," said the Briton. "I have never played him on this court before and it's such a big area that when he gets a solid hit on the ball he can work you all over the place."
2012 - Quarter-final - lost to David Ferrer
Tatsuma Ito, Jarkko Nieminen, Santiago Giraldo and Richard Gasquet were all dispatched for the loss of just two sets as Murray met Mr Consistency David Ferrer for the first time at Roland Garros in the last eight on Court Suzanne Lenglen, looking to forge on to his sixth successive Grand Slam semi-final. The ruthless Spaniard stuck to his game-plan of attacking the Murray backhand, rallying patiently before pouncing on the short ball in a 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-2 win and making sure he would enjoy a good meal on the Champs Elysées that night. The world No 4 made 59 unforced errors and was far too errant on the forehand side. A dispirited and forlorn Murray said: "I’m not really, really disappointed. It was a decent tournament. If I'm looking at the positives, it was good to get into this position."
2014 - Semi-final - lost to Rafael Nadal
After Murray withdrew from the tournament in 2013 because of the back injury, he returned the following year still recovering from surgery and looking to regain his form. After defeating Andrey Golubev and Marinko Matosevic, Murray came up against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. In a cliffhanger of a match, the British No 1, having struggled with a hamstring problem with the match tied at 7-7 in a deciding set shoot-out, the players returned the following day and it was Murray who held his nerve to win 12-10. "I didn't sleep much and I woke up quite a few times. I was ready to play at four, five in the morning. I was very nervous. It's not easy coming back at 7-7. It was the first five-set match I played since my surgery"
After that epic, he made light work of Fernando Verdasco before a bizarre five-set classic against local hero Gael Monfils. Things were all was going swimmingly as he breezed into a two sets lead before the Gael-force hit back and looked in rampant form. A sluggish Murray was on the ropes and ready to go until he picked himself off the dirt to somehow bagel Monfils in 21 minutes and in near darkness to finish the job and reach the last four to the stunned silence of the Chatrier crowd.
A drama-filled tournament came to a shuddering halt in the last four for Murray who was thoroughly overwhelmed by a majestic and magnificent Nadal in the blazing Parisian sun 6-3 6-2 6-1. "That's the toughest match I've played against him," Murray admitted. "He was hitting extremely hard, extremely heavy, returning well, and was hitting it well on the run. You can't always control how your opponent plays. There were a few too many sets this week where I could have finished matches quicker. I only have myself to blame for that." Murray won only 10 points (two of which were double faults) in Nadal’s 12 service games and did not have a single break point.
It was his heaviest loss in 156 Grand Slam matches since a 6-1 6-3 6-3 defeat to Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open. Nadal went on to claim his ninth Roland Garros title.
2015 - Semi-final - lost to Novak Djokovic
Murray followed up his first Roland Garros semi-final in 2014 with another impressive run to the last four in the French capital last year.
The British No 1 began his campaign with a routine victory over Argentinian lucky loser Facundo Arguello, losing just seven games along the way.
He then lost his first set of the tournament on his way to a four-set triumph over Portugal's Joao Sousa before sweeping aside Australian 29th seed Nick Kyrgios.
France's Jeremy Chardy provided Murray's fourth round opposition and the Scot needed to be at his best as Chardy levelled the match at one set all.
Murray came through comfortably in the end to set up a quarter-final with 2012 nemesis David Ferrer and after four gruelling sets it was the Brit who emerged victorious to move into the last four for the second successive year,
World No 1 Novak Djokovic was the opponent, laying waste to all before him in his run to the semi-final which had seen him record straight sets victories all the way through.
When the formidable Serb took the first two sets by the same 6-3 scoreline a routine victory looked on the cards but Murray somehow managed to gather the strength to take the next two 7-5 7-5 to set up a fifth set decider.
However, not for the first time, it was Djokovic who was able to steady himself and find the focus to run away with the final set 6-1.
2016 - Final - lost to Novak Djokovic
Murray achieved something he never thought he would by reaching the final at Roland Garros but it was a familiar story as Djokovic pulled away after a strong start from the Scot to finally complete his set of slam trophies.
Victory allowed Djokovic to stretch his winning record over 29-year-old Murray to 24-10 overall and 8-2 in Grand Slams.
Murray, the world No 2 and the first British man in the final in Paris since Bunny Austin in 1937, remains with two Grand Slam titles as he failed to become the first winner of the French Open since Fred Perry 81 years ago.
The Scot said it "sucked" to see history being made from the other side of the net - a comment which drew sympathetic cheers and applause from the crowd.
He said: "Finally, to Novak, this is his day today. What he has achieved the last 12 months is phenomenal, winning all four of the grand slams in one year is an amazing achievement.
"This is something that is so rare in tennis, it has not happened for an extremely long time and it is going to take a long time for it to happen again.
"So everyone here who came to watch is obviously extremely lucky to see it. Me personally, being on the opposite side, it sucks to lose the match.
"But I am proud to have been part of today, so congratulations Novak, well done."
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