PARIS — While the new king of clay, Stan Wawrinka, posed for the cameras Monday alongside the Seine with the French Open trophy, the longtime king of clay, Rafael Nadal, was already on grass in Stuttgart, Germany.
The transition from red to green is always abrupt in professional tennis, but this year, Nadal and his rivals will have one more week than usual to find their form and their footing before the biggest grass-court tournament of them all. Beginning this season, there are three weeks instead of two between the French Open and Wimbledon. It was a move driven by the All England Club and its proactive chairman, Philip Brook, in the hopes of promoting the grass-court game and providing more time for beating the promotional drums before Wimbledon.