Things That Make Clay A Different Tennis Court Type
If you play tennis, or even are just a spectator, you will be aware of that unique red playing service known as a clay court. This surfaces dates right back to the original game, and is particularly popular in the tennis playing countries around the Mediterranean.
There is no other surface quite like clay to have a game of tennis on. The strong red color is very attractive and literally makes tennis a whole different ball game!
If you have never had the pleasure of playing on red clay, and would like to know a little more about it, here’s a few interesting facts.
The serve and volley players who regularly record wins on other surfaces will often struggle on the red clay. To win on this surface you will be playing from the baseline with punishing ground strokes.
If you do ever see a player approach the net while playing on clay, it is a very rare thing indeed. Those who rely on their booming serve will also find that it hasn’t the effect on this surface as it does on others.
If you weren’t aware already, clay is a very thick compound. It is the thickest of all the surfaces and instead of the ball hitting the surface and then speeding up, the clay slows it down.
Where as on other surfaces such as hard courts the ball skids along the surface at speed, on clay courts it is slowed right down by the thickness of the surface.
As the ball has been slowed down; it will bounce a lot higher than on other surfaces, so the players have more time to get to the ball and return it. It is due to this that clay can claim to have some of tennis’ longest matches played on it.
The games are generally a lot closer on clay as the points go on a lot longer with the slower ball being easier to reach.
Those who are quicker around the court will always have the edge over their opponents.
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