The Most Valuable Facts To Be Aware Of When Playing On Red Clay Tennis Courts

Written by Ben Harrington on January 30, 2010 – 4:36 pm -

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.

I thought it would be useful to throw together a quick guide for people playing tennis on clay courts, pointing out the areas of strength and weakness that arise on this surface.

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.

Unfortunately, players with big serves and proficient net games simply won’t find as much success on clay courts. The impact of a hard hit serve or a quick rush to the net simply doesn’t have the same effectiveness.

Why is this the case? Well, it all has to do with the surface that the matches are being played on. You see, clay is a thick surface and one that slows the ball down as a result.

The strategy on clay is very different from that of other courts. This is because of the speed and manner in which the ball moves after it hits the ground.

On clay, your opponent will have more time to get to each shot that you hit. This is why the points and matches are generally longer on clay than they are in other settings.

This results in very long rallies, since balls that ordinarily couldn’t be returned are gotten to on this surface. This makes things interesting, but they’re also more challenging.

As a result, anyone who moves quickly during the course of a match will definitely have an edge.

In addition to clay courts, the writer also regularly blogs about car window cleaner in addition to car carpet cleaning.

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