New Delhi: Elongated rallies dominated by heavy topspin and plenty of sliding, the action shifts to the red clay of Paris for the second grand slam tournament of the year, as the world's finest gear up for a gruelling fortnight ahead.
The 2011 edition throws up some very interesting possibilities: will Novak Djokovic's spectacular run of victories continue or will Rafael Nadal win his sixth title in seven years? As far as the women are concerned, the draw is wide open with the Williams sisters out of the way.
Success on the red dirt has been about endurance and stamina and it's probably worth going back in time to 1993, where a new trend was set by Sergi Bruguera of Spain.
By denying Jim Courier his third successive French Open crown in the men's final, Bruguera started an era of 'clay court specialists', something that had never been witnessed before in the game's history.
A brand of players who outlast their opponents rather than overpowering them and who seem to perform better as the conditions get slower.
However, these very players are found wanting on the other faster surfaces - grass, indoor, carpet - and fail to make a mark once the clay court season is over.
Earlier, players like Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander (in the 80s) and Courier (early 90s), who used to excel on the hard courts, found a way to dominate on clay also.
But after Bruguera's '93 French Open victory, there was a procession of similar success stories which never seemed to end.
Bruguera won at Roland Garros in '94 as well and after that there was Austria's Thomas Muster who was invincible on the red dirt but equally hopeless on grass.
He pulled out of the 1995 Wimbledon after his French Open triumph for no apparent reason; it's no surprise that he never won a match at the Championships.
Then there was a series of Spaniard and South American winners who went on to rule the roost at Roland Garros.
Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil won on three occasions in 1997, 2000 and 2001 but never went beyond the quarter-final stage of any of the other grand slam tournament.
Spaniards Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero were victorious in 2002 and '03 respectively before unheralded Argentine Gaston Gaudio went all the way the following year in 2004.
Even Rafa, who has nine grand slam titles to boast of, was considered a genuine threat only on clay early in his career.
He has, of course, gone on to quash the myth about being a master only on the red dirt but many others before him had failed miserably and one might dare to say many after him will go on to suffer the same fate.
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