J.J. Wolf emerges as intriguing clay-court prospect among American contingent in Rome

WATCH: Wolf is aiming to transition his high-octane game to slower surfaces in 2023.

When it comes to American men and their clay court possibilities, consider 2023 a year of optimistic transition. Even though many of the initial results from Rome might not point towards success, there are indeed positive signs.

Start with the current batch of tough news. When Rome began, ten American men were in the main draw. Seven lost their openers. These included seeded players Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda, and Ben Shelton.

Time was when those defeats would trigger a familiar wave of handwringing about American men and their clay court shortcomings. The sharp critique would cover everything from a lack of patience, poor movement skills, our country’s dearth of clay courts, and, perhaps most of all, the ill-informed desire to impose weaponry on a surface that has often favored reaction over initiation.

Guess what? Clay-court tennis has changed. Years in the making, clay has blossomed into tennis’ most dynamic surface – not just for defense, but also for offense. Improvements in strings, swings, racquets, fitness, and nutrition have helped make attributes like racquet head speed, kick serves, and drop shots rally-enders. Clay’s days of attrition are conclusively over.

We no longer have clay-court specialists. If anything, specialization is confined to faster surfaces. And so, I believe that those Americans who lost early in Rome have plenty of the skills necessary to win their share of matches at Roland Garros. It will surely take a bit more effort than on hardcourts, but the gap is now more like paddling over a wide river than sailing across a massive ocean. Though it’s a tall order to imagine one becoming the first American man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to win Roland Garros, I’d be surprised if there will be as many opening-round exits in Paris as have happened this week in Rome.

One contender who’s stood out from his compatriots in Rome is 24-year-old J.J. Wolf. Competing in Rome for the first time, the 54th-ranked Wolf opened with a 7-5, 7-5 win over lucky loser, No. 124 Hugo Grenier. Today, versus 14th-seeded Hubert Hukarcz, Wolf took 76 minutes to earn a 6-3, 6-4. victory.

While Hurkacz’s attacking game is indeed often more effective on faster surfaces, three years ago at this event, he beat Dan Evans and Andrey Rublev. On the other hand, since those victories, Hurkacz had gone 0-3 in Rome prior to playing Wolf.

Hurkacz’s experience meant little versus Wolf. Right from the start, Wolf’s focus was crisp. His serve – distinctly struck with a strong leap inside the baseline—opened up the court often for powerful drives shaped with margin and power to each corner. The thick conditions, triggered by rain earlier in the day, amplified the limitations of Hurkacz’s flat forehand, a soft spot Wolf frequently probed like a dentist drilling a decayed molar.

Wolf’s court management skills were exemplary. In the lead wire-to-wire, he moved briskly both during and after the rallies, won ten of eleven at the net, and took care of his serve with Sampras-like precision, not once facing a break point. Serving for the match at 5-4, Wolf flinched not an inch. At 15-love, he lunged for a forehand half-volley and placed it just over the net for a winner. At 40-love, a fitting end: a surefire kick serve elicited an attackable forehand, which Wolf skillfully rolled deep and hard crosscourt. From there, Hurkacz could barely get to the ball, only able to line a forehand into the net.

“It's not super easy, but I really enjoy playing on the clay,” Wolf told Tennis Channel’s Prakash Amritraj following the match. “And I hope to do a lot of training on it in the next couple years. I enjoy playing in Europe and I wanna do well during the clay stretch. So I feel like that'll be kind of a fun challenge for me.”

Last month Wolf reached the quarterfinals at the clay court tournament in Houston.

While he’s only just begun to generate significant results on clay, the two Americans seeded highest in Rome have fared even better. Frances Tiafoe, the No. 12 seed in Rome, won Houston, the first clay court title of his career. America’s leading player, ninth-seeded Taylor Fritz, has taken on an arduous European workload this year. Rome is Fritz’s fourth pre-Roland Garros clay tournament, a spring that so far has included semifinal runs in Monte Carlo and Munich.

But for now, Rome’s man of the moment is J.J. Wolf. Perhaps Wolf has done so well here because he comes from Cincinnati, a city whose name has its roots in a man named Cincinnatus—an ancient Roman hero. Wolf also feels comfortable in Italy, having reached the finals last year in Florence.

“Italians do passion,” Wolf told Amritraj. “I always have fun in Italy.” As Americans such as Wolf are learning more and more, clay court success wasn’t built in a day.