Dimitrov, Djokovic, Thiem and more share keys to clay

Competing on clay isn't easy—that's no secret. The ATP asked the pros and coaches in Barcelona to share their best clay tennis tips and advice.

"It's a very demanding surface, it's very physical," Novak Djokovic says. "You have to expect at least one ball back more than any other surface."

Djokovic would know. The 2016 French Open champion is struggling in his 2018 return, winning a few matches in Monte Carlo but falling in his opener in Barcelona.

"You have to work a little more the points," Galo Blanco, Dominic Thiem's coach, says.

Thiem has won seven of his nine ATP titles on clay, so some consider him the successor to Rafael Nadal as the King of Clay. While he's the last player to defeat the Spaniard on dirt (in Rome last year), he won just two games against him in Monte Carlo.

"There are some longer rallies which is different to the had courts," Thiem says. "I have a bigger swing so I like to be a little bit more far behind the baseline. That dooesn't matter on clay, you can do it."