The ATP Tour are told what they must do before the clay court season after recent announcement

Follow us on Google Discover

The clay court season is set to begin later this month, as players will have to get used to a major change.

Several of the ATP Tour’s top players will be looking forward to tennis’ transition to clay courts as they aim to pick up some big wins over the coming months.

The likes of Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Holger Rune have all gained notoriety for their clay court skills over recent years, and are expected to show their best tennis on the surface in 2025.

It was announced on February 6, that Live Electronic Line Calling will be introduced on clay for the 2025 season.

The move aims to reduce the frequency of inaccurate line calls that have caused controversy over recent years.

Two-time French Open finalist Ruud praised the move, saying ‘Bravo’ to the ATP Tour, before joking that it would prevent arguments this time around.

However, while the move looks to be a step in the right direction, one former tennis star has now told the relevant tennis authorities what they must do before the clay court season kicks off.

Jimmy Arias says the ATP Tour now needs to sit players down before the clay court season

Appearing on the Tennis Channel, former world number five Jimmy Arias explained what the ATP Tour must do before tennis heads onto clay later this month.

“They are going to need to see that [explainer video], they actually have to sit them down before the clay court season and make everyone watch that,” he said.

“Before I saw that I would’ve said we’re in trouble, the players are going to see a mark and there’s no way they’re going to believe in the Electronic Line Calling.”

Arias then disagreed with his co-host Nick Monroe, on how players will adjust to the change.

“I think it’s going to take a couple of tournaments for the players to get used to it and then they’ll have a piece of mind,” said Monroe.

“They’re still not going to have peace of mind because if they see a mark they’re still going to complain,” argued Arias.

The panel then watched a clip from the 2018 Monte-Carlo Masters, where American Jared Donaldson lost his cool after he disagreed with the umpire over which mark was his.

Arias explained that he was happy that incidents such as those would now be a thing of the past.

“It’s great that they’re not going to have any situations like that again,” he said.

“I hated not knowing which mark it is, I hated all of these things, I just still feel like the players might complain when they think they have a mark.”

Monroe agreed but was again slightly more confident that the move would prove effective.

“Typically a lot of seasoned clay court players will see a mark after a serve, they will go up and have a look at it, then wipe it off so that doesn’t happen again, so there’s not two marks in the same spot,” he said.

“But, by the same token, with the new Electronic Line Calling, that’ll just solidify the fact that if it’s out it’s out, if it’s in it’s in.”

Which tournaments will be played on clay in 2025?

There’s not long to go now before we see Live Electronic Line Calling in action, but where will we see players compete on clay in 2025?

Matteo Berrettini won more titles on clay than any other player in 2025, as he took home victories in Morocco, Switzerland, and Austria.

At the Grand Slam level it was Carlos Alcaraz who won the French Open, as he took down Italian Open champion Alexander Zverev in five sets.

The Spaniard battled hard throughout to secure his first title at Roland Garros, having reached the semi-finals one year earlier.

Alcaraz will hope to defend his French Open title, when tennis heads to Paris on Sunday, May 25.