Why Federer is a threat on clay despite not playing on it since 2016

Just because he’s had most of his success on grass and hard courts—19 of his 20 Grand Slam titles and 90 of his 101 overall ATP titles, to be exact—it doesn’t mean Roger Federer isn’t a threat on clay.

And with his long-awaited return to clay-court competition just days away—he’s playing the Mutua Madrid Open, which kicks off on Saturday—it’s important to remember just how dangerous he can be.

First of all, he’s one of only three active men’s players other than 11-time champion Rafael Nadal to win Roland Garros, capturing the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 2009. The other two active players to do it are Stan Wawrinka, who won it in 2015; and Novak Djokovic, who won it in 2016.

“It was definitely the hardest for me to win,” Federer said of his triumph in Paris. “The other ones to some extent came too easy, too fast in my world, and the French Open I had to wait until 2009. I kept trying, and I had to reinvent myself on clay a few times, and having to play the best clay-court player ever made things extremely complicated for many players to win the French Open, not just myself.

“To win it was epic for me. It’s one of my favorite moments to look back on. I wanted it so badly.”

One could even argue that Federer is the second-most accomplished active men’s player at Roland Garros, given he has another four finals in addition to his one title—he was a runner-up to Nadal there in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2011. Djokovic has reached three additional finals; Wawrinka none.

And while Federer is 0-5 against Nadal at Roland Garros, he’s 65-11 there against everyone else.

Federer’s success on clay is actually spread out through the whole clay-court season. He’s won 11 titles on clay, including six of his 28 Masters 1000 titles—he won Hamburg four times when it was a Masters 1000 in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007, and he’s won Madrid twice in 2009 and 2012.

Since Madrid switched to clay in 2009, Federer is 18-4 at the event. His best results aside from those two titles are another final in 2010 and the semifinals in 2011, falling both times to Nadal.

“Because it’s faster clay, more players play a bigger part in a tournament like this,” Federer said. “The bigger hitters are definitely more dangerous, and you can definitely feel the altitude with your serve.”

Finally, Federer is a natural mover on clay, having grown up on it. He’s still cautiously optimistic, though, given that he hasn’t competed on clay since Rome in 2016, where he fell to Dominic Thiem in the third round. The last time he played Roland Garros was 2015, when he lost to Wawrinka in the quarters.

“The clay is going to be a really interesting challenge for me,” Federer said after winning Miami. “I did grow up on clay, but I don’t know how good I can still be after not playing on it for three years.”