clay; since his debut in 2005, he has only lost three times at the tournament – in 2009, 2015 and 2021. Nadal holds the record for the longest winning streak by any male player on a single surface since the Open Era began in 1968: 81 clay court wins between April 2005 and May 2007. He also holds the record for most clay court titles in the Open Era, with 63. Guillermo Vilas won 49 of his 62 singles titles on clay. He only won a single French Open title, although he also won the US Open in 1977 while it was held on clay. Thomas Muster is also considered a successful clay court player; although he also only won the French Open once, 40 out of his 44 career singles titles were won on clay. On the women's side, Justine Henin and Monica Seles hold the open era record for the number of consecutive French Open titles won at three (1990–1992 for Seles and 2005–2007 for Henin). In the pre-open era this feat was first achieved by Helen Wills Moody (1928–1930) and followed by Hilde Krahwinkel Sperling (1935–1937). Chris Evert holds the record for longest winning streak on clay for either gender in the open era: from August 1973 to May 1979, she won 125 consecutive clay court matches. During this time, Evert skipped three editions of the French Open (1976–78), to participate in World Team Tennis. She also has the highest career win percentage on clay courts (94.28%) during the open era. The most successful currently active female player on clay is Serena Williams, who won the French Open in 2002, 2013 and 2015. In 2013, Williams went undefeated throughout the clay court season, winning five titles on the surface. Clay-court specialist A clay-court specialist is a tennis player who excels on clay courts, more than on any other surface. Due in part to advances in racquet technology, current clay-court specialists are known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin; such strokes are less effective on faster surfaces on which the balls do not bounce as high. Clay-court specialists tend to slide more effectively on clay than other players. Many of them are also very adept at hitting the drop shot, which can be effective because rallies on clay courts often leave players pushed far beyond the baseline. Additionally, the slow, long rallies require a great