You are a tennis player, but have only ever played on one type of court: the hard court. This is quite common because hard courts are the most used courts in all of tennis. Even though clay courts and grass courts have major tournaments on the professional tour, they are more specialized and usually not suitable for places like a public park. Installation and maintance of these surfaces is much higher than a traditional or synthetic hard court and cost is most often the motivator for installing one over the other. If you reside in the United States it is very unlikely that you will see a true red clay court from crushed brick. The most common imitation in the states is a green clay called Har-Tru. The surface is somewhat like the red clay, but all of the changes that you will see in a normal clay court are minimized.
How to Play on a Clay Court
If you do get the lucky chance to play on one of these crushed brick surfaces you will notice that there are a lot of differences. The biggest thing that you’ll need to get the hang of is movement on a clay court. You really slide around on this surface, so when you run to get a shot the only way to stop properly is to actually slide into the shot. If you don’t do this you will end up sliding far beyond where you actually hit the ball and your opponent will laugh at you while he hits a winner into the open court. Once you’ve grasped the movement on clay the next big challenge will be to adjust for longer points. Loose tennis surfaces causes a lot of friction on the ball causing it to slow down and jump up. This means it becomes much harder for you to end the point quickly. You will have to become adept at playing long base line rallies and not getting impatient when you are unable to end the point. Don’t bother trying to serve and volley on this surface either, the ball sits up for the opponent to hit an easy passing shot.
Benefits of the Clay Court
One great thing about the clay court is that it is much easier on your body than a traditional hard court. Hard courts are just piles of concrete and asphalt that can really tear up your legs over time. The clay is a lot softer and provides more cushion. Tennis is never going to be an easy sport on your body, but if you can play on clay rather than a hard court it will help. The catch here is that points on clay courts are generally longer and more physical so you might actually have to push your body harder.
The different major tournaments in tennis play on all these different court surfaces. TennisShoeView talks about the grand slam tournaments and how the effects of the court can change the dynamics of a match. As you learn more about tennis try to get the opportunity to play on all the different surfaces.