Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka expose surface tensions in Paris

• Court more slippery than usual, says 10-times winner Nadal
• Johanna Konta and Alison Riske defeated in doubles

The clay of Roland Garros is supposed to be mysterious, an ochre deathbed for the innocent and the ill-prepared. However, at least two players at this French Open have surprisingly divergent views on it.

Naomi Osaka, one of the sport’s unusual thinkers, says it is not clay at all – “not clay-clay” anyway, as she put it after bundling Zarina Dyas out in the second round on Wednesday.