Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 23 May 2025 | Matt Trollope

This is the fourth in our five-part series analysing Australian tennis on clay; check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 here.

This spring claycourt season has seen Australian players bloom.

Currently in Rabat, Morocco, Maya Joint and Ajla Tomljanovic have set up an all-Aussie semifinal as they prepare for Roland Garros, which begins on Sunday.

It’s an eight-year first for Australian women on clay; the last time two reached the semifinal stage of the same claycourt tournament was in Strasbourg in 2017, when Sam Stosur ultimately beat Daria Saville in the final.

Saville continues thriving on the red dirt, having advanced to the final round of qualifying at Roland Garros.

READ MORE: Saville shines brightly to book main-draw playoff

Another win would see her boost Australia’s representation across the men’s and women’s main draws in Paris to 16 – significantly higher than 2024 (11) and 2023 (nine).

One of those main-draw hopefuls is Alexei Popyrin, who this week advanced to the ATP Geneva quarterfinals. This marks his second claycourt quarterfinal of the spring after Monte Carlo, and he’s a previous ATP title winner on clay, thanks to his Umag victory in 2023.

Monte Carlos was a significant week given he joined Alex de Minaur in the quarters, making them the first Aussie pair to reach the quarterfinals of a claycourt Masters event since the tournament category was introduced in 1990. De Minaur went on to reach the semifinals, becoming the first Aussie to progress that far in Monte Carlo since 1979.

De Minaur has been a revelation on clay, last year becoming the first Aussie man in 20 years, after Lleyton Hewitt in 2004, to reach the quarterfinals in Paris.

ALEX DE MINAUR: Climbing on clay

All these stats remind us there’s been a lot to like from the Australians on clay in recent years. Ash Barty, significantly, won Roland Garros in 2019, making her the first Aussie to win the French title since Margaret Court in 1973.

According to Stosur, the 2010 Roland Garros finalist, this truth might just get lost under the weight of success on other surfaces.

“As good as all of that is, you’ve got Lleyton and Ash winning Wimbledon, so there’s that next level. And then [great] hard-court results and whatever else,” said Stosur, who reached a further three semifinals in Paris. “So it’s easy then to sort of discount [those clay results] … But if you actually look at it isolated, it is good, right?”

Thanasi Kokkinakis, unfortunately, is not one of the 15 Aussies already set for main-draw action at Roland Garros as he recovers from pectoral surgery. It’s all the more disappointing given it’s been the site of his best Slam results.

He’s built an impressive career record of 62-44 on clay, a winning percentage almost as high as what he has attained on hard courts, the surface of his development.

AUSSIES ON CLAY: Developing the next generation

“The way my first coach, Todd [Langham], kind of set up my groundstrokes, I thought it could actually suit clay very well,” Kokkinakis said during an interview to be released in full on next week’s episode of The Sit-Down podcast.

“I went to Europe and all these young stars tours when I was sort of [age] 12 and 14, and I actually did pretty well over there. I think I won two back-to-back junior claycourt tournaments. And from then, I was like, I can actually be pretty good on this surface.

“It’s something that I think suits my game, and it definitely suits my forehand the best. And I feel pretty comfortable moving on it… I feel like I can compete with the best guys on clay.

“Did I think it [Roland Garros] was going to be my best Grand Slam? Who knows. But I’d say hard and clay are my best two [surfaces]. I should have made a few third rounds, I feel like, in Australia. I’ve had a few near misses.”

Kokkinakis very nearly made the fourth round last year at Roland Garros, eventually falling to 12th seed Taylor Fritz in five sets.

It was the second time he was appearing in the third round – he did the same as a teenager in 2015 – and it’s a stage Jordan Thompson has also reached. That was in 2019, then the best Grand Slam result of his career.

Thompson opens in Paris against Jiri Lehecka, the world No.37 just outside of the seedings. But the Aussie is ranked only one spot lower at 38th, and according to Tennis Australia senior data analyst Simon Rea possesses all the elements to stage another impressive run.

RELATED: Draws set for Australian stars at Roland Garros 2025

“He’s potentially someone who could do well on the clay, with his kick-serve, physicality, speed and agility, and just the type of athlete that he is, let alone the type of competitor that he is,” Rea told tennis.com.au. “I think when you package all of that up, I’d expect Jordan to be right there.”

Former Davis Cup captain Wally Masur, who knows fellow Sydneysider Thompson well, is another who sees him as a threat. “Thommo has been to the third round there,” Masur said.

“I’m in and around [the elite players], I see them training and their pre-season, and our guys train hard. Our guys are fit. You play a really good claycourter, like an [Tomas Martin] Etcheverry or a [Francisco] Cerundolo, born and bred on it, and it’s really difficult. But they’re not going to lose wondering, because they’re all fit, they’re all ready, they’re all up for it. They’re not going to get run down, outmuscled, or fatigued.”

Masur also identified Aleksandar Vukic as another Aussie who could thrive in Paris, especially given Vukic recently progressed to the semifinals of the claycourt Challenger in Estoril and has previously won through the qualifying rounds at Roland Garros.

Another Aussie flourishing on clay at the tier below tour level is Astra Sharma. In April she was ranked outside the top 200 but has since boosted her ranking back to 149th after excellent clay-court results on the ITF circuit, including a W100 title at Bonita Springs in Florida. Her two WTA-level finals – Bogota in 2019 and Charleston in 2021 – both came on clay.

Sharma started Roland Garros qualifying with a 6-0 6-0 first-round win before falling in the second round. But with Saville still alive in the qualifying rounds, another great Australian milestone could be realised.

Should Saville beat sixth seed Taylor Townsend in the final round, she would become the seventh woman representing Australia to enter the main draw at Roland Garros. This would be the most Australian women in the main draw in Paris since 1990.

Leading that contingent is 17th seed Daria Kasatkina, another great claycourter who reached the Roland Garros semifinals in 2022.

READ MORE: Getting to know Daria Kasatkina

“With the depth of women that we have now inside the top 100, things are looking good,” said Casey Dellacqua, a Roland Garros mixed doubles champion in 2011.

“I’m keen to see how Kim Birrell and Maya Joint go; I think they’re probably the two Aussies that I’m most keen to watch. Obviously, they’re not going to be seeded… if they can sneak a good first round and then get some confidence, you never know how sometimes the draw opens up.

“I’m keen to see how all the Aussies go – really hope that we can get some through.”