Making A Difference
Like a home court advantage of basketball or football, the surface that tennis players play on make a big difference to the outcome of a match. Some players are able to adjust to different playing surfaces with the styles of tennis that they play, whilst other players can only really compete on one or two surfaces. The three main surfaces in tennis are clay, grass and hard court, here are some pointers on why they are different and what types of players will succeed.
Grass Court
Grass is the traditional surface of tennis and is used at Wimbledon. Grass allows the ball to skid more and will fly off the surface. This gives fast bounce to fast and flat serves as well as driving shots. The way to play on grass is to have a big serve and to try and end the point early with a big drive followed by a sharp volley since the drive and serve should be very difficult to return well.
Clay Court
Clay is a very slow surface that leads to lots of rallies and heavy top spin shots. Most players here will use a kick serve and heavy top spin in order to make the ball bounce up and forward more since the clay really absorbs the bounce so the ball does not have as much drive. Clay court players are good returners and can scramble well to keep themselves in a point. Clay courts are the surface used in the French Open and many European tournaments.
Hard Court
Hard court is the surface in between the fast grass and slow clay. There is much more grip on the ball, so winners can be hit and strong serves still very effective, however there are more rallies depending on which players you are watching. Hard court players are more versatile and can volley and also rally from the back.
Always check what type of court it is next time you are picking a winner in a tennis tournament, since this can greatly influence the outcome.
