The 2015 Miami Open has not yet been put to bed, but already a number of people are looking ahead to the spring clay season.  Two players who are probably particularly keen to head to the clay are Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova.  Many consider Nadal to be the greatest clay-court player in the history of the sport, while clay has arguably become the most successful surface for Sharapova in recent years.  It would therefore be no surprise to find either one of them eager to return to the dirt. But along with that eagerness, there is apt to be some anxiety, since both players know that the upcoming clay-court swing could prove pivotal to the remainder of their seasons.

A big part of the reason why the upcoming weeks could potentially be so important to Sharapova and Nadal is related to what transpired this past month.  While both improved upon their 2014 results at Indian Wells, they still suffered relatively early exits in the desert.  Miami proved to be even more disastrous.  Sharapova lost her opener to the unheralded Daria Gavrilova, falling well shy of her semifinal showing of a year ago.  Nadal also succumbed to a premature defeat, losing to countryman Fernando Verdasco and failing to come close to matching his finalist appearance of the prior season.  Essentially, both left March feeling disappointed and losing some ground.

While it was frustrating for Sharapova and Nadal to have missed out on securing valuable ranking points and possibly even another top-tier title, it is the way in which they lost their matches that is even more troubling.  Sharapova had ample opportunity to grab a stranglehold on her round of 16 encounter with Flavia Pennetta at Indian Wells, but she failed to capitalize and ultimately wound up losing that contest in three sets.  Things got worse in Miami, however.  While Gavrilova played a spectacular match to garner the upset, Sharapova never really gave the upstart a reason to doubt her ability to cross the finish line.  The Russian was emotionally flat, and the stares over to her box came with ever-increasing frequency.  Furthermore, for a competitor known for her trademark grit and fight, she appeared to be resigned to defeat towards the end.  It was a puzzling and lackluster performance that has left many wondering where her confidence is heading onto the clay.

It could be said that Rafael Nadal finds himself in a similar position to Sharapova.  He had a decent run to the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, where he held three match points in the second set against Milos Raonic, and although he was disappointed at not having been able to cash in on one of those three match points, it seemed Nadal had taken a step in the right direction.  Unfortunately, his play in Miami suggested otherwise.  He fell in the third round to compatriot Verdasco in what was an uncharacteristically nervous outing from the former No. 1.  Nadal admitted to feeling the pressure, and given that he has not played a lot of tennis these last few months, he is entitled to still be rusty.  That said, that he would log such an error-strewn performance against a player whose game he not only knows inside and out, but whom he had only lost to once in 14 meetings is somewhat worrying.  It certainly does not leave him in the best place mentally heading over to Europe.

Sharapova and Nadal will need to find their confidence quickly once the clay swing is underway.  Sharapova played four clay events last spring, and she won three of them, including her second title at Roland Garros.  Nadal also enjoyed quite a bit of his customary success on the dirt.  He won the title in Madrid, reached the final in Rome, and won yet another title in Paris.  Suffice it to say, there is quite a bit for each of them to defend.  But this seems to be the surface where they are at their best right now, and sometimes that alone is enough to regain some degree of confidence.  If they can just secure a few early wins, that may be all they need to blaze through the spring and set themselves up nicely going into summer.

Of course, there is plenty of tennis to be played between now and early June, and irrespective of what transpires between now and then, it will not make-or-break players as accomplished as Sharapova and Nadal.  That does not mean that it cannot have ramifications for the remainder of 2015, though, and there is no question that Sharapova and Nadal need to quickly right the ship by getting their clay-court games clicking right out of the gate.