Blue clay makes debut at Madrid Open

Defending champion Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer preview blue clay courts being used for the first time ever at the Madrid Open.A two-week break following the death of his grandfather has allowed Novak Djokovic to regain his focus in time to defend his Madrid Open title this week. Djokovic, like most of the competitors in Madrid, has been questioned about the controversial blue clay courts being used for the first time in a tournament.We have the blue clay courts for first time in the history of our sport and it is definitely interesting for everybody to see what is going to happen, you know, throughout this week, he said on Monday.Traditional red clay has been dyed blue for the event - the theory is that the ball can be seen more clearly. Djokovic is among those who are not a big fan of the change.Nadal was pleased to practice in front of the Spanish fans. The world number two is confident after winning the Monte Carlo and Barcelona titles but faces a tough first round opponent, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, in the new blue clay court.We will see, we will this week. I am not a big fan of the blue clay but that is the way it is today and I will just try to adapt my game as good as possible to play well here and that is the most important thing today - just keep pressing hard and put everything on court to have a good result, Nadal said.Number three seed Roger Federer, who received a first-round by together with Djkokovic and Nadal, will face the winner of the first round match between big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic and former world number three from Argentina David Nalbandian in his opening round.This year obviously a bit different, we got some blue clay coming (for) the first tournament and it is a tricky one especially knowing how well all the other players are already playing but I hope I get through the early rounds and then hopefully find my range and to start to play really great tennis, Federer said.