- There are four types of tennis courts – hard, clay, grass and synthetic courts
- Novak Djokovic is the king of hard court while Rafael Nadal is the king of clay
- Roger Federer is the king of grass court
- Each court has its advantages and disadvantages
How many types of tennis courts are there? What’s the difference?
Well, tennis courts come on a range of surfaces that can be useful to your game, depending on your playing style.
While you may play tennis on nearly any surface, after you find out your tennis-playing style, you can detect which sort of surface best matches your game and use it to your advantage.
This article highlights the four main types of tennis courts.
HARD COURTS
Hard courts are the most common in tennis and are also known as asphalt courts.
They are made of asphalt and concrete with an acrylic coating (like to paint). These protect the surface and provide some cushioning for the players.
The tennis ball travels faster and jumps higher on hard surface courts than it does on clay courts because of the lower energy absorption of hard surfaces.
Players of various levels and talents can compete on hard courts since they are an all-around court. The U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam tournament held on a hard court as well as the Australian Open.
However, other tournaments throughout the year have hard courts. And Serbian player, Novak Djokovic is the king of hard court of the open era.
He has a career record of 12 hard court major titles – including nine Australian Open and three US Open victories.
Djokovic has another 27 Masters tournaments wins in hard court.
SYNTHETIC TENNIS COURTS
Some public and private venues may choose a synthetic turf court for the softness and feel of a grass court without the need for regular upkeep.
Synthetic courts are mainly made of artificial grass fibres that are more durable and require less upkeep than a traditional grass court.
Sand-filled toppings on synthetic turf courts protect the court itself from weather conditions, drying faster and making it less prone to wear as a result of time and use.
Like actual grass, these materials aren’t poisonous and don’t attract bugs.
GRASS TENNIS COURTS
Roger Federer. Photo/forbes
Most tennis courts had grass surfaces – sometimes referred to as – lawn courts – in the past.
Grass courts, on the other hand, are less popular than hard courts and clay courts because of their high cost and care. This style of court is the fastest, with low ball bounces and shorter rallies, and is made up of short-cut grass on densely packed earth.
As a result of the fast surface, players who have huge serves have an advantage because the ball is more difficult to return to start the game.
On a grass court, there are several variables, including how many players have played on it before, how often it is mowed, and the overall health and condition of grass.
Grass courts were previously utilised at all four Grand Slam tournaments, but Wimbledon is the only one that remains.
Roger Federer, a 20-time Grand Slam champion is the king of grass court in open era. With 19 grass-court titles including 10 Halle Open titles and 8 Wimbledon crowns, Federer is the most successful grass-court player in the Open Era.
Seven of those are consecutive Wimbledon finals from 2003 to 2009.
CLAY COURT
Clay Courts in tennis. Photo/Bleacher Report
You may have heard about clay courts courtesy of Rafael Nadal – the king of clay.
However, there are two types of clay courts. First, there is the Red clay courts made from brick, while green clay courts are made from crushed metabasalt, or Har-Tru .
These materials dry faster than normal clay, which is rarely encountered on modern tennis courts.
Clay courts have the slowest ball speed because to their rough surfaces. Topspin serves are simpler to return on this surface since the ball travels at a slower speed.
Baseline players that like a more defensive style of play will benefit from this slower pace because points will stay longer.
Clay courts are a little more forgiving on the human body since the surface absorbs more stress and allows players to drift into position rather than come to a complete stop, allowing them to save some energy.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament to include a clay court. Nadal steals the show by being the best clay court player.
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