text:
Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Golden Gate Bridge as seen from below
Sign advertising crisis hotline telephone on bridge for those considering suicide
Between 1937 and 2012, an estimated 1,600 bodies were recovered of people who had jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, located in the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States.[1]
The four-second fall from the Golden Gate Bridge sends a person plunging 245 feet (75 m) at 75 miles per hour (121 km/h) to hit the waters of the San Francisco Bay "with the force of a speeding truck meeting a concrete building." Jumping off the bridge holds a 98 percent fatality rate;[2][3] As of 2005[update], it is estimated that 26 people have survived after jumping.[4] some die instantly from internal injuries, while others drown or die of hypothermia.[5] The Golden Gate bridge's death toll has since been surpassed only by the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China.[6] In 2013, 118 potential jumpers were talked down from their attempt and did not jump.[3]
A number of measures are in place to discourage people from jumping, including telephone hotlines and patrols by emergency personnel and bridge workers. Although it had previously been considered impractical to build a suicide barrier, in 2014 the Bridge's directors approved a proposal for a net below the bridge's deck, extending out either side, rather than side barriers at the railings as had long been proposed.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 Notable fatal incidents
2.1 Harold B. Wobber
2.2 August and Marilyn DeMont
2.3 Charles S. Gallagher, Sr. and Jr.
2.4 Marc Salinger
2.5 Steven and Kellie Page
2.6 Roy Raymond
2.7 Paul Aladdin Alarab
2.8 Gene Sprague
2.9 Sean Moylan
3 Notable survivors
4 Prevention and intervention
4.1 Suicide rescue
4.2 Suicide barrier
5 Documentary
6 Notes
7 References
Background[edit]
Suicides mapped by location, as of 2005
Official count of the jumpers ended 1995 on 997.
The Golden Gate Bridge, referred to by Krista Tippett as a "suicide magnet",[7] is the second-most used suicide site/suicide bridge in the world, after the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (see List of suicide sites).[8] The deck is about 245 feet (75 m) above the water.[9] After a fall of four seconds, jumpers hit the water at around 75 mph (120 km/h). Most of the jumpers die due to impact trauma. About 5% of the jumpers survive the initial impact but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.[10][11]
Most suicidal jumps from the bridge have occurred on the side facing the bay. The side facing the Pacific is closed to pedestrians.[12]
An official suicide count was kept until the year 1995,[13] sorted according to which of the bridge's 128 lamp posts the jumper was nearest when he or she jumped.[14] The official count ended on June 5, 1995 on the 997th jump;[15] jumper No. 1000, Eric Atkinson (25), jumped on July 3, 1995.[13] Earlier in 1995, a local shock jock had offered a case of Snapple to the family of the 1000th suicide victim.[16] Consequently, Marin County coroner Ken Holmes asked local media to stop reporting the total number of jumpers.[16] By 2012 the unofficial count exceeded 1,600 (in which the body was recovered or someone saw the jump)[1] and new suicides were occurring about once every two weeks, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis.[17] The most suicides in one month were in August 2013, when 10 jumped. The total count for the year 2013 was 46, with an additional 118 attempts prevented, making it the year with the highest tally so far.[11][16][18] The rate of incidence of attempts has risen to nearly one every other day.[16] The youngest known jumper is 5-year-old Marilyn DeMont; in 1945, she was told to jump by her father who followed her.[1][19]
For comparison, the reported third-most popular place to commit suicide in the world, Aokigahara Forest in Japan, has a record of 108 bodies, found within the forest in 2004, with an average of 30 a year.[20] There were 34 bridge-jump suicides in 2006 whose bodies were recovered, in addition to four jumps that were witnessed but whose bodies were never recovered, and several bodies recovered suspected to be from bridge jumps. The California Highway Patrol removed 70 apparently suicidal people from the bridge that year.[21]
There is no accurate figure on the number of suicides or completed jumps since 1937, because many were not witnessed. People have been known to travel to San Francisco specifically to jump off the bridge, and may take a bus or cab to the site; police sometimes find abandoned rental cars in the parking lot. Currents beneath the bridge are strong and some jumpers have more than likely been washed out to sea without being seen.
The fatality rate of jumping is roughly 98%. As of July 2013, only 34 people are known to have survived the jump.[22] Those who do survive strike the water feet-first and at a slight angle, although individuals may still sustain broken bones or internal injuries. One young woman, Sarah Rutledge Birnbaum, survived, but returned to jump again and died the second time.[23] One young man survived a jump in 1979, swam to shore, and drove himself to a hospital. The impact cracked several of his vertebrae.[24]
Engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko, as part of her "Bureau of Inverse Technology" art collective, created a "Despondency Index" by correlating the Dow Jones Industrial Average with the number of jumpers detected by "Suicide Boxes" containing motion-detecting cameras, which she claimed to have set up under the bridge.[25] The boxes purportedly recorded 17 jumps in three months, far greater than the official count. The Whitney Museum, although questioning whether Jeremijenko's suicide-detection technology actually existed, nevertheless included her project in its prestigious Whitney Biennial.[26]
Notable fatal incidents[edit]
Harold B. Wobber[edit]
The first known intentional death from the Golden Gate Bridge occurred when the bridge was just a little over three months past its opening. In August 1937, 47-year-old World War I veteran Harold Wobber was employed as a bargeman and took a bus to the bridge. After he got off the bus, Wobber started down the pedestrian walkway of the 1.6-mile span. On the way, he started talking to a college professor from Connecticut, on vacation in the San Francisco area. During the stroll, Wobber took off his coat and vest, threw them to the man, and declared, "This is where I get off. I'm going to jump." The vacationing professor grabbed the man's belt, but Wobber was able to get free and jumped over the four foot high rail to his death in the San Francisco Bay. After his death, newspapers reported Wobber was "a victim of shell shock" who had been undergoing mental health treatment.[27][28][29][30]
Newspaper clipping from the San Francisco Examiner of the youngest jumper, Marilyn DeMont (5)
August and Marilyn DeMont[edit]
Until 1993, the youngest death off the bridge was 5-year old Marilyn DeMont, in 1945. With the child standing on a girder just outside the bridge's railing, her father, 37-year-old elevator installation foreman August DeMont, commanded her to jump. August DeMont followed by diving "gracefully" after her. A simple note was found in the DeMont car stating, "I and my daughter have committed suicide."[31]
Charles S. Gallagher, Sr. and Jr.[edit]
In 1954, Charles S. Gallagher, Sr. was director of the San Jose Merchants Association in San Jose, California. After returning from two weeks of vacation, he discovered the audit his company began before he left was ongoing. Gallagher told his co-workers he was leaving briefly to get coffee. Rather than doing so, he drove to the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge, parked, and jumped.
Four days later, Gallagher's 24-year-old son, Charles S. Gallagher Jr., drove the same sedan owned by his father to the same area and jumped from approximately the same location. A pre-med student at UCLA, Gallagher, Jr. left a note that said, "I am sorry. . . . I want to keep dad company."[31]
Marc Salinger[edit]
Twenty-eight-year-old Marc Salinger, oldest son of former Kennedy Administration press secretary Pierre Salinger,[32] jumped to his death from the bridge on February 9, 1977. While Salinger had known John F. Kennedy through his father's professional association with the president, he had also known him on a personal level. According to his family, Salinger, who had occasionally been Kennedy's golf caddy, never got over the president's assassination. After Salinger's mother had identified the body, the San Francisco Coroner's Office announced Salinger's death to the press. A resident of the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of his death, Salinger was buried in San Mateo County.[33]
Steven and Kellie Page[edit]
On January 28, 1993, Steven Page murdered his wife Nancy and then threw his daughter Kellie off the Golden Gate Bridge, before jumping off the bridge himself.[34][35][36][37][38][39][40]
Page worked as a buyer at Owaga-Mune Nursery in Fremont, California.[41] The Page family home was in Fremont, but Page maintained a separate apartment after he and his wife separated. At 10:00 am on January 28, Page drove to their Fremont house and murdered his wife with a 12 gauge shotgun. He then left a message for his mother-in-law to pick up his 9-year-old stepson from school. After arriving at the Page home, she discovered the body of her daughter.[38][41] Page, after killing his wife, drove with their 3-year-old daughter, Kellie, to the Golden Gate Bridge.[38] Highway patrol officers noticed Page walking along the bridge carrying a bundle and recognized it to be a small child. After being approached by the officers because of his unusual behavior, Page threw Kellie over the railing, then climbed over the railing himself and jumped off.[42] Following the incident, investigators were puzzled by Page's apparent lack of psychological indicators prior to the murder/suicide.[43]
U.S. Coast Guard spokesperson Shelly Freier stated the USCG had recovered the bodies of both father and daughter by the next day, January 29.[44] An apology letter addressed to Page's 9-year-old stepson, who was at school at the time of all three deaths, was found at the family home. In the letter Page apologized for what he had done, showing premeditation for both the murders of his wife and daughter as well as his suicide.[44]
Roy Raymond[edit]
On August 26, 1993, Roy Raymond, the founder of Victoria's Secret, died after falling from the Golden Gate Bridge at the age of 46. Last seen walking toward the bridge, Raymond's body was shortly thereafter washed up on a shoreline in Marin County; investigators concluded that he had committed suicide by jumping from the bridge.[45]
Paul Aladdin Alarab[edit]
Originally surviving a fall from the Golden Gate in 1988, Paul Aladdin Alarab died on March 19, 2003 when he jumped from the bridge in protest of the United States' invasion of Iraq. Alarab, whose father was born in Iraq, was a 44-year-old real estate agent from Kensington, California who climbed over a railing on the east side of the bridge, mid-span. Tying one end of a rope to the bridge and wrapping the other end of the rope around his arms, Alarab then demanded to talk to media. Law enforcement tried to talk him back over the railing while he read a statement he had written denouncing the war started earlier that day. After finishing the statement, he let go of the rope and fell 235 feet to the water. His body was recovered almost immediately, but Alarab did not survive the fall.
In 1988, however, he had survived a similar fall from the bridge that occurred while lowering himself into a garbage can that was hanging from a 60-foot rope off the bridge. At that time, he was protesting what he saw as mistreatment of the elderly and the handicapped. In the 1988 incident, he lost his grip on the rope and fell into San Francisco Bay, surviving with three broken ribs and both lungs collapsed. The first incident was considered an accident. Following the 1988 incident, Alarab told a reporter from the San Francisco Chronicle, "It seemed like the fall lasted forever. I was praying for God to give me another chance. I was also wondering about how I would hit, because that is what determines if you will live or die." While his friends, family, and co-workers did not believe his death was an intentional suicide, investigators came to a different conclusion based on his having let go of the rope. Retired UCSF professor of psychiatry Jerome Motto stated that Alarab might have been disturbed by the outbreak of the war and "that previously bearable pain suddenly became intolerable".[46]
Gene Sprague[edit]
On May 11, 2004, Gene Sprague[47], a native of San Mateo, California, committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge. His death is documented in the 2006 film The Bridge. During the filming of The Bridge, the crew noticed Sprague walking back and forth along the bridge for around 90 minutes, before stopping to lean over the railing. According to Eric Steel, the film's director, Sprague's behavior was normal enough to not attract the attention of the on-set suicide prevention teams. As seen in the end of the film, after watching the water for a minute or two, Sprague pulled himself over the railing, stood up and fell backwards into the San Francisco Bay.
Sean Moylan[edit]
On June 5, 2014, at 4:22 pm, 27-year-old Sean Moylan of Novato, California, jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge, ending his life. The Coast Guard pulled Moylan's body out of the waters beneath the bridge. Moylan was the grandson of John Moylan, a longtime member of the Golden Gate District board of directors who campaigned for the installation of suicide barriers on the bridge. The elder Moylan was president of the board when, in 2008, a historic decision was made to build the barrier at a cost of $68 million. John Moylan referred to his grandson's death as "heartbreaking"; however, he did not blame it on the lack of a barrier. Sean Moylan already had attempted suicide in February 2014; after a breakup with his girlfriend, Moylan walked in front of a truck in Oregon and was critically injured.[48][49]
Notable survivors[edit]
Along with confirmed suicide deaths and suicide attempts at the bridge, there have been false suicides, as well. The first documented case of "pseudocide" at the Golden Gate Bridge was in 1948. 47-year old Chris J. Christensen was a well-known local jeweler who had been recently elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Christensen's coat was found attached to a work box at the center span of the bridge with a note in the coat that read, "Loved Ones: My nerves are shot. Please forgive me. Chris." Believed to have jumped from the bridge, Christensen was declared dead and rumors abounded. Investigators concluded he was unable to cope with the pressures of being in public office. There were reports of Christensen having become friendly with a man described as "willowy ... almost too good-looking to be considered handsome." While Christensen introduced the man to friends and colleagues as his nephew, it was learned the man was not a relative, rather, a Navy sailor whom Christensen met in a Los Angeles bar. Over a year had passed when it was discovered Christensen was actually alive and selling Bibles in Houston, Texas. Found living in a low-rent rooming house and having lost 40 pounds, Christensen explained that campaign contributors who supported his election had asked him to "do things he couldn't do". Christensen saw himself as a failure and never returned to San Francisco.[31]
In 1985 28-year-old Kenneth Baldwin jumped over and survived. He was rescued by the US Coast Guard, he suffered a few broken ribs and a bruised lung.
On September 24, 2000, Kevin Hines was 19 years old, paranoid, and hallucinating when he jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. Throwing himself headfirst over the bridge railing, he fell 220 feet into San Francisco Bay. During the fall, his body rotated so that when Hines hit the water he landed in a sitting position, taking the impact in his legs and up through his back. Three of his vertebrae were shattered, lacerating his lower internal organs. A United States Coast Guard vessel rescued him, and he was transported to a hospital in San Francisco where he received emergency surgery. Following further, experimental surgery, any physical evidence of his experience is almost non-existent, and Hines has full mobility. Regarding his thoughts after the jump, Hines stated, “There was a millisecond of free fall. In that instant, I thought, what have I just done? I don’t want to die. God, please save me.” Following his suicide attempt, Hines received some notoriety as a survivor, appearing in a documentary film, The Bridge (2006) and being interviewed on CNN by Larry King. Additionally, he wrote a book about his experience before and after his suicide attempt, Cracked, Not Broken, and became a mental health advocate as well as a proponent for a bridge suicide barrier or net to prevent such incidents.[50]
On March 10, 2011, 17-year-old Luhe "Otter" Vilagomez from Windsor High School in Windsor, California, survived a jump from the bridge, breaking his coccyx and puncturing one lung, though he said his attempt was for "fun" and not suicide. The teen was helped to shore by Frederic Lecouturier, 55, who was surfing under the bridge when he saw Vilagomez jump.[51][52] The California Highway Patrol recommended the San Francisco District Attorney's Office charge the student with misdemeanor trespassing (a charge that entails climbing any rail, cable, suspender rope, tower or superstructure not intended for public use), punishable by up to a year in the county jail and/or a fine up to $10,000, and that the teen undergo a medical/psychiatric evaluation by medical professionals.[53][54]
Prevention and intervention[edit]
Various methods have been tried to reduce the number of suicides. The bridge is fitted with suicide-hotline telephones and staff patrol the bridge in carts, looking for people who appear to be planning to jump. The bridge is now closed to pedestrians at night. Cyclists are still permitted across at night, but can buzz themselves in and out through the remotely controlled security gates.[55] Attempts to introduce a suicide barrier have been thwarted by engineering difficulties, high costs, and public opposition.[56] One recurring proposal had been to build a barrier to replace or augment the low railing, a component of the bridge's original architectural design, as amended by the second designer in the final blueprint.[A] New barriers have eliminated suicides at other landmarks around the world, but were opposed for the Golden Gate Bridge for reasons of cost, aesthetics, and safety, as the load from a poorly designed barrier could significantly affect the bridge's structural integrity during a strong windstorm. Despite these concerns, on June 27, 2014, California approved a funding plan to install a suicide barrier.[57]
A volunteer group called the Bridgewatch Angels was founded by Pleasanton Police Lieutenant, Mia Munayer, in 2011. During every major holiday and while off duty, Munayer mobilizes hundreds of volunteers to patrol the bridge looking for anyone who may be contemplating suicide. Before embarking on their morning or afternoon shifts, Bridgewatch Angels volunteers receive training on the warning signs of someone in crisis, indirect and direct ways to engage with people walking alone on the bridge, and safety protocol when interacting with a suicidal person requiring police intervention. Each Bridgewatch event is dedicated to the memory of a person who jumped from the Golden Gate Bridge and their family joins the Bridgewatch Angels as they walk together to honor the memory of their loved one. The Bridgewatch Angels are credited with making dozens of interventions each year. [58][59][60][61]
Suicide rescue[edit]
In addition to Golden Gate bridge patrol, law enforcement, and emergency medical personnel, there are Golden Gate Bridge ironworkers who volunteer their time to prevent suicides by talking to or wrestling down suicidal people.[62] One of the ironworkers, Ken Hopper, began working at the bridge in the mid-1980s and sees the volunteer rescue duty as "part of the job". Called "Cowboys of the Sky", they have the equipment and knowledge of the bridge, as well as the experience working at extreme heights, giving them the qualifications to go over the rail and assist those in need. While the experience of the volunteers minimize the danger of falling, there are still risks encountered. Ironworkers have reported knives being pulled on them, seeing loaded guns on would-be jumpers, and having been bitten. When a police psychologist is on scene, they will coach the volunteer rescuers by radio and the ironworkers are provided seminars on suicide prevention. As of 2001, Hopper reported having rescued 30 suicidal individuals and losing two. He was a first-hand witness to the Steven Page murder/suicide, where a young, distraught father, who had just murdered his wife, threw his toddler-daughter off the bridge and then jumped off the bridge himself.
"Hopper's Hands", hand silhouettes of bridge ironworker and volunteer suicide rescue worker, Ken Hopper[63]
"Hopper's Hands" were created in part as a legacy of the ironworkers volunteering for suicide rescue duty. After Hopper spotted waterfront joggers touching the fence at the sidewalk dead-end near Fort Point before turning back, he asked the bridge's sign painter to create a sign with two hand print silhouettes on it. The signs are now at both ends of the bridge.[64]
Strong appeals for a suicide barrier, fence, or other preventive measures were raised again by a well-organized vocal minority of psychiatry professionals, suicide barrier consultants, and families of jumpers beginning in January 2005. These efforts were given momentum by two films dealing with the topic of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge. On January 14, 2005 the San Francisco Chronicle published an open letter by writer-director Jenni Olson calling for a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge.[65] The letter was, in part, an excerpt from the script of her film The Joy of Life, which world-premiered the following week, on January 20, 2005, at the Sundance Film Festival. The day before, on January 19, 2005, the Chronicle broke the news that filmmaker Eric Steel had been shooting suicide leaps from the bridge during 2004 for his film The Bridge, which would be released in 2006. A week later, The Joy of Life world-premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and video copies of the film were circulated to members of the Bridge District board of directors with the help of the Psychiatric Foundation of Northern California.
In the fall of 2005 the San Francisco Chronicle published a seven-part series of articles, titled "Lethal Beauty", focusing on the problem of suicide and the Golden Gate Bridge and emphasizing that a solution was not just possible, but even desirable.[10]
California Highway patrolman Kevin Briggs, is credited with saving hundreds of lives of would-be jumpers by talking to them before they can take the plunge.[66] The CHP estimates that with the help of cameras and the volunteers at least 80–90% of people intending to jump are prevented from doing so.[67]
Suicide barrier[edit]
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi joins the families of Golden Gate Bridge suicide victims in 2017 to celebrate the construction of a suicide-prevention barrier on the bridge
On October 10, 2008 the Golden Gate Bridge and Transportation District Board of Directors voted 15 to 1 for the preferred option of installing a plastic-covered stainless-steel net below the bridge as a suicide deterrent.[68] The netting barrier was initially estimated to cost $40–50 million to complete.[69][70][71] On July 28, 2010, the board received $5 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) towards conducting a final design study of the barrier.[72] However, a funding source for the overall project still had not been identified, and there was concern that this lack of funding could delay the net's deployment.[73]
The lack of funding for the project continued to delay the schedule of completion.[74] In 2012, President Barack Obama enacted the Transportation Re-authorization Bill permitting federal funding towards transportation infrastructure projects. Initially, the bill didn't divert funding automatically. However, advocates of the barrier, such as 'Bridge Rail Foundation', were eventually successful in securing support for the project in 2014.[75] In March 2014, The New York Times reported that it is expected that the directors of the Bridge District will vote to change its policy and allow the use of toll money to supplement governmental funds for a suicide barrier.[16]
The proposed suicide barrier will consist of stainless steel netting stretching 20 feet (6.1 m) out on either side of the bridge, and 20 feet below the bridge. Funding for building this barrier was unanimously approved by the Golden Gate Bridge Board of Directors on June 27, 2014. The MTC approved to contribute $27 million of the $76-million overall cost for the project, and federal, state, and local authorities will likewise contribute to the project.[76][77] The design was finalized in December 2014; however the project has been delayed due to concerns from the National Park Service about storing construction materials at the site for the estimated 3 years it will take to complete the work.[78]
Suicide barriers began to be installed in April 2017, after years of debate.[79]
Documentary[edit]
Main article: The Bridge (2006 documentary film)
The Bridge is a 2006 British-American documentary film by Eric Steel, which spans 365 days of filming at the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge in 2004. The film captured a number of suicides, and featured interviews with family and friends of some of the identified people who had thrown themselves from the bridge that year.
The film was inspired by Tad Friend's 2003 article titled "Jumpers", written for The New Yorker magazine.[80] The film crew shot almost 10,000 hours of footage, recording 23 of the known 24 suicides off the bridge in 2004.[81][82]
In his article for The New Yorker, Friend wrote, "Survivors often regret their decision in midair, if not before". This observation is supported by survivor Ken Baldwin, who explained, “I instantly realized that everything in my life that I'd thought was unfixable was totally fixable—except for having just jumped."[83]
The 2006 release of The Bridge exerted additional pressure on the Bridge District and created continued public awareness. The film also documented interviews with surviving family members of those who jumped, with witnesses, and with a survivor.
Some critics condemned the film for its subject matter.[84] Andrew Pulver of The Guardian gave it one out of five stars, saying it "could be the most morally loathsome film ever made."[85] The Bridge received mostly positive reviews, receiving a 66 percent "fresh" rating from 56 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes; the critical consensus states: "Tactlessly morbid or remarkably sensitive? Deeply disturbing or viscerally fascinating critics are divided on Eric Steel’s unique documentary on the Golden Gate Bridge, wonder of the modern world and notorious suicide destination."[86] On Metacritic, the film has a 58/100 rating, signifying "mixed or average reviews".[87]
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ The original design was for a 5 1/2 foot high fence, but it was reduced to 4 feet. Tad Friend: Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge, The New Yorker, October 13, 2003 v79 i30 page 3
References[edit]
^ Jump up to: a b c Bateson, John (May 25, 2012). "The Golden Gate Bridge's fatal flaw". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 18, 2013. Since it opened on May 27, 1937, there have been an estimated 1,600 deaths in which the body was recovered,
Jump up ^ Melina, Remy (2011-04-19). "How Did Teen Survive Fall from Golden Gate Bridge?". Retrieved 2013-11-23.
^ Jump up to: a b Justin Worland (June 27, 2014). "The Golden Gate Bridge Is Getting Its First Suicide Nets". Time Inc. Retrieved March 15, 2015. In 2013, 46 people committed suicide by jumping off the bridge, while another 118 were talked down.
Jump up ^ Guthmann, Edward (October 30, 2005). "Lethal Beauty". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 12, 2015. An estimated 26 jumpers have survived
Jump up ^ Edward Guthmann (October 30, 2005). "Lethal Beauty". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ Paul Mooney (July 8, 2008). "A voice of reason on Yangtze bridge". Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ Tippett, Krista & Hecht, Jennifer Michael (December 13, 2015). "Suicide, and Hope for Our Future Selves". On Being. CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter (link)
Jump up ^ Bone, James (October 13, 2008). The Times (ECE). New York http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4931880.ece. Retrieved October 23, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
Jump up ^ "Suspension Bridges" (PDF). snu.ac.kr. p. 5. Archived from the original on July 12, 2003. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link) "Depth to span ratio (of truss is) 1:168." Span of 4200 ft means truss is 25 ft deep.
^ Jump up to: a b Koopman, John, Staff Writer (November 2, 2005). "LETHAL BEAUTY / No easy death: Suicide by bridge is gruesome, and death is almost certain. The fourth in a seven-part series on the Golden Gate Bridge barrier debate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b Bateson, John (September 29, 2013). "The suicide magnet that is the Golden Gate Bridge". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Golden Gate Bridge, Bikes". Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District.
^ Jump up to: a b Adams, Jane Meredith (July 12, 1995). "Golden Gate Bridge suicides reach 1,000 and counting". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
Jump up ^ Jacobs, Frank (July 11, 2009). "Bridge to Nowhere: a Map of Golden Gate Jumpers". Big Think. Retrieved October 18, 2013.
Jump up ^ "1,000th succumbs to morbid allure of Golden Gate leap". Desert News. Associated Press. July 11, 1995. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Pogash, Carol (March 26, 2014). "Suicides Mounting, Golden Gate Looks to Add a Safety Net". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
Jump up ^ James, Scott (August 26, 2011). "A Year of Rising Suicides on Bridge and Tracks". the New York Times. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
Jump up ^ Dobuzinskis, Alex (February 26, 2014). "Golden Gate Bridge hits milestone in 2013 with 46 suicides". Reuters. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
Jump up ^ Libman, Joan (May 22, 1987). "Golden Gate Bridge: Triumph, Tragedy: Suicide Rate Shadows the Span's 50th-Anniversary Celebration". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 21, 2013.
Jump up ^ "'Suicide forest' yields 78 corpses". Japan Times. February 7, 2003. Retrieved May 3, 2008.
Jump up ^ Lagos, Marisa (January 17, 2007). "34 confirmed suicides off GG Bridge last year". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved January 17, 2007.
Jump up ^ Lucas, Scott (July 18, 2013). "Kevin Hines Is Still Alive". Modern Luxury. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
Jump up ^ "Weird California: Golden Gate Bridge". November 11, 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2012.
Jump up ^ Adams, Cecil (March 11, 2005). "Could you jump off a bridge or a tall building and survive the fall?". The Straight Dope. Cecil Adams. Retrieved April 12, 2006.
Jump up ^ "Art in Review: The Bureau of Inverse Technology". The New York Times.
Jump up ^ Shachtman, Noah (August 8, 2004). "Tech and Art Mix at RNC Protest (Archive.org)". Wired. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved October 30, 2007. CS1 maint: Unfit url (link)
Jump up ^ Jeff Stryker (July 9, 1995). "Ideas & Trends; An Awful Milestone for the Golden Gate Bridge". NY Times. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Golden Gate Bridge Fast Facts". CNN. June 29, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ Emma Anderson (May 20, 2012). "Span of time: Key dates in Golden Gate Bridge history". SF Gate. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ Joan Libman (May 22, 1987). "Golden Gate Bridge: Triumph, Tragedy : Suicide Rate Shadows the Span's 50th-Anniversary Celebration". Retrieved March 16, 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b c Joan Libman (May 22, 1987). "Golden Gate Bridge: Triumph, Tragedy : Suicide Rate Shadows the Span's 50th-Anniversary Celebration". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Todd S. Purdum (October 18, 2004). "Pierre Salinger, Press Secretary to Kennedy, Dies at 79". NY Times. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ "SALINGER'S SON PLUNGES FROM BRIDGE AND DIES". NY Times. February 9, 1977. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ "Man Kills Wife, Daughter, Self". Washington Post. 30 January 1993. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Jump up ^ "Police Seek Baby After Golden Gate Bridge Suicide". San Francisco Chronicle. 26 November 1993. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
Jump up ^ "Coast Guard Abandons Search For Bridge Baby". Orlando Sentinel. 27 November 1993. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
Jump up ^ Walker, Thaai (30 January 1993). "New Talk of Bridge Suicide Barrier / Much debated in '70s, fence proposal was rejected as too costly". San Francisco Chronicle. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
^ Jump up to: a b c de Lama, George (17 February 1993). "Fatal Seduction Of Golden Gate". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
Jump up ^ Koopman, John (2 November 2005). "Lethal Beauty: No easy death: Suicide by bridge is gruesome, and death is almost certain. The fourth in a seven-part series on the Golden Gate Bridge barrier debate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
Jump up ^ Friend, Tad (13 October 2003). "Jumpers The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge". New Yorker. Retrieved 15 March 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b Locke, Michelle. "Man kills wife, throws child from bridge". Associated Press. Retrieved 2013-11-23.
Jump up ^ "Deadly Drama Climaxes On Golden Gate Bridge". Orlando Sentinel. 1993-01-30.
Jump up ^ ""We have no answers'/"Nice guy' shoots wife, throws toddler from Golden Gate Bridge, then jumps". Houston Chronicle. 30 January 1993. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
^ Jump up to: a b "Man Throws Daughter, 3, Off Bridge, Then Jumps". Associated Press. 1993-01-29.
Jump up ^ Bonander, Ross (December 2, 2009). "5 Things You Didn't know: Victoria's Secret". AskMen. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
Jump up ^ Peter Fimrite (March 21, 2003). "Golden Gate Bridge fall was 2nd for protester / Victim had survived similar '88 plunge". SF Gate. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
Jump up ^ Gene Romal Allen “Flower” Sprague Find a grave
Jump up ^ Joel Christie (June 8, 2014). "Grandson of Golden Gate suicide barrier pioneer leaps to his death off bridge his grandfather fought to make safer". The Daily Mail. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Melanie Greenwood (June 9, 2014). "Grandson of suicide barrier advocate leaps to his death off Golden Gate Bridge". NY Daily News. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Scott Lucas (July 18, 2013). "Kevin Hines Is Still Alive". San Francisco Magazine. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Preuitt, Lori (March 10, 2011). "Student Survives Jump From Golden Gate Bridge". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved March 10, 2011.
Jump up ^ "Windsor teen survives leap from Golden Gate Bridge". March 11, 2011.
Jump up ^ Meckles, Jennifer (March 13, 2011). "Teenager Survives Jump Off Golden Gate Bridge". U.S. News newsy.com. Retrieved July 31, 2012.
Jump up ^ Lanaras, James, Bay City News. "CHP Recommends Trespassing Charges Against Teen Who Jumped From Golden Gate Bridge". SF Appeal. Retrieved July 31, 2012. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^ "Golden Gate Bridge: Bikes and Pedestrians". Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. 2006. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
Jump up ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (July 9, 2008). "Judging the bridge's 5 suicide barrier designs". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
Jump up ^ Lam, Stephen (June 27, 2014). "Suicide nets approved for San Francisco's Golden Gate bridge". Reuter's. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Angels keep watch on Golden Gate Bridge". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
Jump up ^ Kim, Lilian (2017-11-25). "Volunteers work to reduce holiday season suicides". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
Jump up ^ Lewis, Nancy Davis. "Valentine's Day Angels: Patrolling the Golden Gate to help save lives". Retrieved 2018-01-15.
Jump up ^ "Walking the Golden Gate Bridge suicide watch with 'Angel' volunteers". SFGate. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
Jump up ^ Ostler, Scott (January 10, 2001). "Saving Lives Just Part of the Job". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved July 16, 2009.
Jump up ^ Blane Bachelor (November 18, 2013). "A Pair of Helping Hands Under the Golden Gate Bridge". Runner's World. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
Jump up ^ Scott Ostler (January 10, 2001). "Saving Lives Just Part of the Job". SF Gate. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
Jump up ^ Olson, Jenni (January 14, 2005). "Power Over Life and Death / Another toll goes up on the Golden Gate Bridge". San Franciscan Chronicle website. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
Jump up ^ "Guardian of the Golden Gate Bridge". Yahoo!. December 5, 2012.
Jump up ^ Hay, Jeremy (October 10, 2015). "Kevin Briggs reflects on 18 years of stopping Golden Gate Bridge suicides". The Press Democrat. Retrieved December 25, 2017.
Jump up ^ "GGB Suicide Barrier Study". Golden Gate Bridge Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
Jump up ^ Cabanatuan, Michael (October 11, 2008). "Bridge directors vote for net to deter suicides". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 23, 2008.
Jump up ^ "The Alternatives" (PDF). Golden Gate Bridge Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Retrieved August 27, 2009.
Jump up ^ James, Scott (August 26, 2011). "A Year of Rising Suicides on Bridge and Tracks". The New York Times. Retrieved July 29, 2012.
Jump up ^ "Metropolitan Transportation Commission Allocates $5 Million in Grant Funding for Final Design of Golden Gate Bridge "Net System" Suicide Deterrent". Golden Gate Bridge Physical Suicide Deterrent System Project. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
Jump up ^ Reisman, Will (June 24, 2011). "Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier nets funding, but more money is needed". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
Jump up ^ Dudnick, Laura (February 24, 2010). "Survivors Of Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Victims Rally At City Hall To Demand A Safety Net". Bay City News
Jump up ^ Prado, Mark (July 6, 2012). "Transportation bill makes Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier eligible for federal dollars". Marin Independent Journal.
Jump up ^ Smith, Stephanie. "Funding for Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier approved". CNN. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
Jump up ^ Prado, Mark (July 23, 2014). "Largest funding piece for Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier gets approval". Marin Independent Journal
Jump up ^ Prado, Mark (10 July 2015). "Frustration grows over Golden Gate Bridge suicide barrier delays". San Jose Mercury News.
Jump up ^ [1]
Jump up ^ Tad Friend (March 27, 2014). "A Net, at Last, for the Golden Gate Bridge?". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ Jason Kottke (May 1, 2006). "Controversy over 'The Bridge'". kottke.org. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Bridge of Death". ABC News. October 20, 2006.
Jump up ^ Tad Friend (October 13, 2003). "Jumpers - The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Bridge". The Times. February 16, 2007. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ Andrew Pulver (February 16, 2007). "The Bridge". The Guardian. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Bridge". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 10, 2015.
Jump up ^ "The Bridge Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
San Francisco Bay Area portal
Bridges portal
Death portal
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Suicides_at_the_Golden_Gate_Bridge&oldid=849099537"
Categories:
Golden Gate Bridge
Suicides in California
Suicides by jumping in the United States
Hidden categories:
CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter
Pages with citations lacking titles
Pages with citations having bare URLs
CS1 maint: Unfit url
Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL
CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2005
All articles containing potentially dated statements
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
Add links
This page was last edited on 6 July 2018, at 14:34 (UTC).
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

key: html

type: local

value: div

attrs: id class

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

value: a

attrs: id class lang

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

attrs: class href

values: mw-jump-link #mw-head

values: mw-jump-link #p-search

value: img

attrs: alt src width height class srcset data-file-width data-file-height

attrs: href class

attrs: href class title

attrs: class style

attrs: href title

values: plainlinks noexcerpt noprint asof-tag update

values:
/wiki/Jumper_(suicide)
mw-redirect
Jumper (suicide)

values:
/wiki/Trauma_(medicine)
mw-redirect
Trauma (medicine)

attrs: alt src width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: The height, depth, and length of the span from end to end, looking west.

values:
/wiki/Whitney_Museum
mw-redirect
Whitney Museum

values: Edit section: Charles S. Gallagher, Sr. and Jr.

values:
/wiki/JFK_assassination
mw-redirect
JFK assassination

values:
/wiki/San_Mateo_County
mw-redirect
San Mateo County

values:
/wiki/U.S._Coast_Guard
mw-redirect
U.S. Coast Guard

values:
/wiki/Premeditated_murder
mw-redirect
Premeditated murder

values:
/wiki/Los_Angeles,_California
mw-redirect
Los Angeles, California

values:
/wiki/Houston,_Texas
mw-redirect
Houston, Texas

values: Edit section: Prevention and intervention

values:
/wiki/Suicide_hotline
mw-redirect
Suicide hotline

values:
/wiki/Kevin_Briggs_(highway_patrolman)
mw-redirect
Kevin Briggs (highway patrolman)

values: Metropolitan Transportation Commission (San Francisco Bay Area)

values:
reflist mw-references-wrap
list-style-type: upper-alpha;

values:
nofollow
http://www.onbeing.org/
external text

values: Category:CS1 maint: Uses authors parameter

values: Category:CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
noprint metadata navbox
navigation
Portals
font-weight:bold;padding:0.4em 2em

values: Category:Suicides by jumping in the United States

values: Category:Pages with citations lacking titles

values: Category:Pages with citations having bare URLs

values: Category:Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL

values: Category:Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2005

values: Category:All articles containing potentially dated statements

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values: Find background information on current events

values:
/wiki/Special:Random
Load a random article [ctrl-alt-x]
x

values: portal navigation p-navigation p-navigation-label

values: Guidance on how to use and edit Wikipedia

values: About the project, what you can do, where to find things

values: A list of recent changes in the wiki [ctrl-alt-r]

values: portal navigation p-interaction p-interaction-label

values: List of all English Wikipedia pages containing links to this page [ctrl-alt-j]

values: Recent changes in pages linked from this page [ctrl-alt-k]

values:
/wiki/Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard
Upload files [ctrl-alt-u]
u

values: A list of all special pages [ctrl-alt-q]

values: Permanent link to this revision of the page

values: Link to connected data repository item [ctrl-alt-g]

values: Printable version of this page [ctrl-alt-p]

values: portal navigation p-wikibase-otherprojects p-wikibase-otherprojects-label

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Suicides_at_the_Golden_Gate_Bridge rootpage-Suicides_at_the_Golden_Gate_Bridge skin-vector action-view


text:
Clay court
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Court Philippe Chatrier at Stade Roland Garros in Paris during the 2006 French Open.
A clay court is one of many different types of tennis court. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone, brick, or other unbound mineral aggregates. The French Open uses clay courts, making it unique among the Grand Slam tournaments. Clay courts are more common in Continental Europe and Latin America than in the United States, Canada or Britain. Two main types exist: red clay, the more common variety, and green clay, also known as "rubico", which is a harder surface. Although less expensive to construct than other types of tennis courts, the maintenance costs of clay are high as the surface must be rolled to preserve flatness. The water content must also be balanced; green courts are often sloped in order to allow water run-off.[1]
Contents
[hide]
1 Play
2 Variants
2.1 Red clay
2.2 Green clay
3 Players
3.1 Clay-court specialist
4 Professional tournaments played on clay
4.1 Winter clay season
4.2 Spring clay season
4.3 Summer clay season
5 See also
6 References
Play[edit]
Clay courts favor the "full western grip" for more topspin. "Clay-courters" generally play in a semicircle about 1.5 to 3 metres (5 to 10 feet) behind the baseline.
Clay courts are considered "slow", because the balls bounce relatively high and more slowly, making it more difficult for a player to deliver an unreturnable shot. Points are usually longer as there are fewer winners. Therefore, clay courts heavily favor baseliners who are consistent and have a strong defensive game, which has allowed players such as Rafael Nadal, Björn Borg, Chris Evert, and Justine Henin to find success at the French Open.
Clay court players use topspins to throw off their opponents. Movement on gravel courts is very different from movement on any other surface. Playing on clay often involves the ability to slide into the ball during the stroke, as opposed to running and stopping like on a hard or grass court. Players who excel on clay courts but struggle to replicate the same form on fast courts are known as clay-court specialists.
Clay courts are unique in that the ball bounce leaves an impression in the ground, which can help determine whether a shot was in or out. Critics of red clay courts point to the constant need to wet them down, problems renewing the surface if it dries out, and the damage caused to clothing and footwear through stains. All clay courts, not just red clay, tend to cause a build-up of clay on the bottom of the shoes of the players, needing constant removal.
Variants[edit]
Red clay[edit]
Almost all red clay courts are made not of natural clay but of crushed brick that is packed to make the court, with the top most layers consisting of finely crushed loose particles. Such courts are most common in Europe and Latin America.
En tout cas (Fr. "in any case") is a version of red clay with a coarser top layer to improve drainage.[2] The coarser surface allows more water to run through the surface of the court drying the surface more quickly after rain.[3]
Natural clay courts are rare because this type of surface does not absorb water easily and takes two to three days to dry. A good example of natural red clay can be seen at the Frick Park Clay Courts in Pittsburgh, a public facility of six red clay courts that has been in continual use since 1930.[4]
Green clay[edit]
Maria Sharapova during the 2008 Family Circle Cup played on green clay
Green clay, also called rubico and the brand name Har-Tru, is similar to coarse red clay, but is made from crushed metabasalt[5] rather than brick, making the surface slightly harder and faster. Green clay is packed to make the subsurface. It is then covered with a topping. These courts are located primarily in the eastern and southern United States.
There is one WTA tournament played on green Har-Tru clay courts, the Volvo Car Open in Charleston, South Carolina.
Players[edit]
Serena Williams, pictured here at the 2013 French Open, has won the French Open in 2002, 2013 and 2015.
Rafael Nadal, winner of ten French Open men's singles titles is noted for his success on clay; since his debut in 2005, he has only lost twice at the tournament – in 2009 and 2015. Nadal holds the record for the longest winning streak by any male player on a single surface since the tennis open era began in 1968: 81 clay court wins between April 2005 and May 2007.
Rafael Nadal holds the record for most titles won on clay in the open era with 52 trophies.[6] Thomas Muster is also considered a successful clay court player; although he only won the French Open once, 40 out of his 44 career singles titles were won on clay.
The most successful currently active female player on clay is Serena Williams, who won the French Open thrice, in 2002, 2013 and 2015. In 2013, Williams went undefeated throughout the clay court season, winning five titles on the surface.[7][8]
Justine Henin and Monica Seles hold the 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 Opens (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.
Clay-court specialist[edit]
Rafael Nadal is known as "The King of Clay."
A clay-court specialist is a tennis player who excels on clay courts.
Due in part to advances in racquet technology, current clay-court specialists are known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin, strokes which are less effective when the surface is faster and 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 degree of mental focus and physical stamina from the players.
The definition of "clay-court specialist" has varied, with some placing players such as Thomas Muster, Gustavo Kuerten, and Juan Carlos Ferrero in that category, even though these players have won tournaments (including Masters Series events) on other surfaces. However, since these players won major titles only at the French Open, they are sometimes labeled as such. Other players, such as Sergi Bruguera, Albert Costa and Gastón Gaudio were French Open champions who won all or very nearly all of their career titles on clay. Among female players, there have been very few whose best results were confined exclusively to clay. Virginia Ruzici, Anastasia Myskina, Iva Majoli, Sue Barker, Ana Ivanovic, Francesca Schiavone, and Jelena Ostapenko are the only female players to have won major titles at only the French Open since the beginning of the open era.
Increasingly, clay courters have attempted to play better on other surfaces[9] with some success.[10] Ferrero reached the US Open Final in 2003,[11] the same year he won the French Open, and also won several hardcourt tournaments.[12] Nadal was considered a clay court specialist until a string of successes on other surfaces, including completing a golden career grand slam, led to a broadening of his reputation,[13] while Muguruza reached the 2015 Wimbledon final the year before she won the French Open.[14]
Professional tournaments played on clay[edit]
The professional clay court season comprises many more tournaments than the brief grass court season, but is still shorter than the hard court seasons. There are three distinct clay court seasons during the year.
The first is the men's winter clay season consisting of tournaments in South America. Played primarily in February after the Australian Open and before the Indian Wells Masters, the ATP has four tournaments in this swing, although other ATP tournament played on hardcourt occur the same weeks. The WTA discontinued its participation in Rio de Janeiro after 2016, so there are no clay court women's tournaments during this period.
The second is the long spring clay season that starts in the Americas and Morocco before moving to mainland Europe and finishing with the French Open. It is usually played over two months between April and June, after the Miami Open. Unlike the other two clay seasons this swing does not share the majority of its time with simultaneous hard court tournaments.
The third is the brief summer clay season that takes place after Wimbledon. It is entirely in Europe, and usually takes place in July. Near the end of the swing, it overlaps with the beginning of the US Open Series.
ATP WTA
Grand Slam tournaments
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Premier Mandatory & Premier 5
ATP World Tour 500 Premier
ATP World Tour 250 International
Winter clay season[edit]
Week
ATP
Week 1 Ecuador Open (Quito, Ecuador)
Week 2 ATP Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Week 3 Rio Open (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Week 4 Brasil Open (São Paulo, Brazil)
Spring clay season[edit]
Week
ATP
WTA
Week 1 Grand Prix Hassan II (Casablanca, Morocco)
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships (Houston, United States) Charleston Open (Charleston, South Carolina, United States)
Week 2 Monte-Carlo Masters (Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France) Copa Colsanitas (Bogotá, Colombia)
Week 3 Barcelona Open (Barcelona, Spain)
Hungarian Open (Budapest, Hungary) Women's Stuttgart Open (Stuttgart, Germany)
Week 4 Bavarian International Tennis Championships (Munich, Germany)
Estoril Open (Estoril, Portugal)
Istanbul Open (Istanbul, Turkey) Marrakech Grand Prix (Marrakesh, Morocco)
Sparta Prague Open (Prague, Czech Republic)
Week 5 Madrid Open (Madrid, Spain)
Week 6 Italian Open (Rome, Italy)
Week 7 Geneva Open (Geneva, Switzerland)
Open de Nice Côte d'Azur (Nice, France) Internationaux de Strasbourg (Strasbourg, France)
Nuremberg Cup (Nuremberg, Germany)
Week 8 French Open (Paris, France)
Week 9
Summer clay season[edit]
Week
ATP
WTA
Week 1 none BRD Bucharest Open (Bucharest, Romania)
Swedish Open (Båstad, Sweden)
Week 2 Swedish Open (Båstad, Sweden)
Croatia Open (Umag, Croatia) Gastein Ladies (Bad Gastein, Austria)
Week 3 German Open Tennis Championships (Hamburg, Germany)
Swiss Open (Gstaad, Switzerland) none
Week 4 Austrian Open Kitzbühel (Kitzbühel, Austria) none
See also[edit]
Tennis portal
Hardcourt
Grass court
Carpet court
References[edit]
Jump up ^ "Clay Courts: What Are They Anyway?". Xsports. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
Jump up ^ http://www.en-tout-cas.co.uk/ En-Tout-Cas Sports Surfaces home page
Jump up ^ Lavallee, Andrew R. "Clay Courts: What Are They Anyway?". Retrieved April 14, 2016.
Jump up ^ "Frick Park Clay Court Tennis Club". Retrieved 2011-01-18.
Jump up ^ "Har-Tru Classic Green Clay". Har-Tru. Har-Tru LLC. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
Jump up ^ http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/nadal-beats-nishikori-for-barcelona-2016-title
Jump up ^ Serena Williams confirms greatness with French Open win, The Roar, 10 June 2013
Jump up ^ Tennis: Serena Williams racks up 51st win to take Swedish Open title, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 22 July 2013
Jump up ^ Ford, Bonnie D (2008-06-27). "Nadal the lead warrior in Spanish surge on grass". EPSN.com. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
Jump up ^ Van Sias (16 April 2012). "Clay-court specialists not so special anymore". USA Today.
Jump up ^ "Ferrero shatters Agassi hopes". BBC. 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
Jump up ^ "Ferrero claims Madrid title". BBC. 2002-10-19. Retrieved 2008-07-10.
Jump up ^ US Open: Rafael Nadal beats Novak Djokovic in four-set final to win his second Open title, ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), 10 September 2013
Jump up ^ Trollope, Matt (9 July 2015). "Magical Muguruza into first major final". Wimbledon. Retrieved 19 January 2017.

[hide]
v
t
e
Tennis
International Tennis Federation
History
Glossary
Match types
Statistics
Players
Umpires
Women's tennis
Basics
Scoring system
point
Strategy
grips
serve and volley
Equipment
ball
racket
strings
Official
Technology
electronic line judge
hawk-eye
cyclops
Courts
Carpet
Clay
Grass
Hard
Shots
Backhand
Backspin
Drop shot
Flat
Forehand
Groundstroke
Half volley
Lob
Passing shot
Serve
ace
Smash
Topspin
Volley
Grand Slams
Australian Open
French Open
Wimbledon
US Open
Records
Professional
tours
Men
ATP World Tour
ATP Challenger Tour
ITF Men's Circuit
Women
WTA Tour
WTA 125K series
ITF Women's Circuit
Team events
Davis Cup
Fed Cup
Hopman Cup
Laver Cup
Wightman Cup (defunct)
World Team Cup (defunct)
World TeamTennis
International Premier Tennis League
Champions Tennis League
Multi-sport
events
Intercontinental
Olympics
Youth Olympics
Universiade
Commonwealth
Island
Mediterranean
Continental
All-Africa
Asian
Pacific
Pan American
Outline
Portal
WikiCommons
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clay_court&oldid=799421846"
Categories:
Tennis court surfaces
Tennis terminology
Sports rules and regulations
Clay
Navigation menu
Personal tools
Not logged in
Talk
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Namespaces
Article
Talk
Variants
Views
Read
Edit
View history
More
Search
Navigation
Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store
Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page
Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
Wikidata item
Cite this page
Print/export
Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version
In other projects
Wikimedia Commons
Languages
العربية
Български
Català
Čeština
Dansk
Deutsch
Español
Français
한국어
हिन्दी
Italiano
עברית
ಕನ್ನಡ
Nederlands
Norsk
Português
தமிழ்
తెలుగు
中文
Edit links
This page was last edited on 7 September 2017, at 16:49.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Cookie statement
Mobile view
Enable previews

values: mw-page-base noprint

values: mw-head-base noprint

attrs: id class style

values: firstHeading firstHeading en

values: siteSub noprint

values: jump-to-nav mw-jump

values:
/wiki/Court_Philippe_Chatrier
mw-redirect
Court Philippe Chatrier

value: b

values:
/wiki/Winner_(tennis)
mw-redirect
Winner (tennis)

values:
/wiki/Clay-court_specialist
mw-redirect
Clay-court specialist

values:
/wiki/Volvo_Car_Open
mw-redirect
Volvo Car Open

values:
/wiki/Tennis_open_era
mw-redirect
Tennis open era

values: List of French Open women's singles champions

values:
/wiki/Helen_Wills_Moody
mw-redirect
Helen Wills Moody

values:
/wiki/World_Team_Tennis
mw-redirect
World Team Tennis

values:
/wiki/Jelena_Ostapenko
mw-redirect
Jelena Ostapenko

values: Edit section: Professional tournaments played on clay

values:
/wiki/Marrakech_Grand_Prix
mw-redirect
Marrakech Grand Prix

values:
/wiki/Sparta_Prague_Open
mw-redirect
Sparta Prague Open

values:
/wiki/BRD_Bucharest_Open
mw-redirect
BRD Bucharest Open

values: display:table-cell;padding:0.2em 0.2em 0.2em 0.3em;vertical-align:middle

values: margin:0.5em 0 0.5em 1em;border:solid #aaa 1px

values:
nofollow
external text
http://www.xsports.com/clay.html

values:
nofollow
http://www.en-tout-cas.co.uk/
external free

values:
nofollow
http://www.clayfricktennis.org/
external text

values:
nofollow
external text
https://hartru.com/pages/har-tru-green

values: -moz-column-width: 30em; -webkit-column-width: 30em; column-width: 30em; list-style-type: decimal;

values:
navbox-image
5
width:1px;padding:0px 0px 0px 2px

values: List of Grand Slam related tennis records

attrs: alt src title width height srcset data-file-width data-file-height

values: nowraplinks hlist collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner

values:
catlinks mw-normal-catlinks
catlinks mw-normal-catlinks
interface

values: Discussion about edits from this IP address [ctrl-alt-n]

values: A list of edits made from this IP address [ctrl-alt-y]

values: You are encouraged to create an account and log in; however, it is not mandatory

values: You're encouraged to log in; however, it's not mandatory. [ctrl-alt-o]

values:
/wiki/Clay_court
View the content page [ctrl-alt-c]
c

values: Discussion about the content page [ctrl-alt-t]

values: p-namespaces navigation vectorTabs p-namespaces-label

values:
p-variants
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-variants-label

values: Past revisions of this page [ctrl-alt-h]

values: p-views navigation vectorTabs p-views-label

values:
p-cactions
navigation
vectorMenu emptyPortlet
p-cactions-label

values:
mw-wiki-logo
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page

values:
/wiki/Main_Page
Visit the main page [ctrl-alt-z]
z

values: Featured content – the best of Wikipedia

values:
uls-settings-trigger
Language settings
0
button
true

values: ملعب ترابي – Arabic

values: Червен корт – Bulgarian

values: 클레이 코트 – Korean

values: क्ले कोर्ट – Hindi

values: משטח חימר – Hebrew

values: ಜೇಡಿ ಮಣ್ಣಿನ ಅಂಕಣ – Kannada

values:
https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravel
Gravel – Dutch
nl
nl
interlanguage-link-target

values:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saibro
Saibro – Portuguese
pt
pt
interlanguage-link-target

values: களிமண் ஆடுகளம் – Tamil

values: బంకమట్టి కోర్టు – Telugu

values: /static/images/wikimedia-button-1.5x.png 1.5x, /static/images/wikimedia-button-2x.png 2x

values: /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_132x47.png 1.5x, /static/images/poweredby_mediawiki_176x62.png 2x

values:
suggestions
display: none; font-size: 13px;

values: mediawiki ltr sitedir-ltr mw-hide-empty-elt ns-0 ns-subject page-Clay_court rootpage-Clay_court skin-vector action-view