The Most Critical Facts To Be Aware Of When Playing Tennis On Clay
Posted on January 29, 2010
Filed Under Tennis
If you’re an avid tennis player, perhaps you’ve enjoyed the privilege of playing on red clay courts. This is an old surface with a deep rooted history of tradition that dates back to the origins of the sport in parts of Europe like Spain and France.
While these courts are common in other parts of the world, they’re far more rare in America. Still, they do exist, and you should consider yourself lucky if you have the opportunity to play a match on this surface.
If you’ve never played on red clay courts before, I’d like to share a few pieces of knowledge that you may find informative about them.
If you’ve ever seen the French Open or any other clay court event on TV, you’ve probably witnessed long rallies played from the baseline. Those who stay back generally find more success on these courts.
Rarely will you see someone playing at the net much on clay, and those players with effective serves won’t normally see much of an edge from what would normally be considered a weapon of theirs.
You might be wondering why it would matter, but there’s a good reason for this. The makeup of the clay lends itself to a ball that bounces high and slowly off the ground, giving your opponent a lot of time to get to it.
This is very different from what you’d observe on grass and even hard tennis courts, as the ball almost skids off the ground on these other surfaces. These are faster courts, unlike clay ones.
The ball bounces very slowly off the ground on a clay court, as the surface literally slows down its speed. This is a good thing if you’re a baseline player, as you’ll have more time to prepare for each shot.
Rallies are typically longer, and what you’d normally never be able to get to on a hard or grass court may be well within reach when it comes to clay.
Those with the gift of speed will do really well on clay. Look at professionals like Rafael Nadal, for example. The slowness of the surface allows him to get to just about everything.
Aside from tennis, this author additionally frequently blogs about car window cleaner as well as car carpet cleaner.
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