[KlaraNovikoffaZ]

The answer seems to imply that James is answering for the American players (or rather the American men players), and I think overall for the Americans it is somewhat true. For the American players the clay court season doesn't seem to be something they really prep for or build their year around. They like Houston, then they come to Europe for a few weeks and schedule early flights home from Roland Garros. Lack of clay court mindset and play when coming up is a big part of that, but in some ways they are both the cause and the effect. If Americans thought the clay season was important they would probably teach children how to move on it and play on it more, etc. Apparently they need to pass around that Mary Carillo "I want my kids to grow up to be clay courters" video a bit more...

Right now the American men aren't doing all that great in general, but there best chances (slim as they might be) of winning a major are certainly at the US Open, then Wimbledon, then the Australian Open. It would be poor planning for the current batch of players to attempt some sort of comeback at the French...