A tennis player might wonder how he should adjust to playing on different surfaces.  There are three major surfaces that you will see in tennis: the hard court, the clay court, and the grass court.  There are of course many variations of these three groups.  Courts are often made synthetically rather than using the type of material it’s name would suggest.  The general purpose is to make the courts last longer and also make them easier to use and maintain for the tennis players.  Regardless of what the surface is, you should be aware of how each kind of surface can positively or negatively affect the way you play your tennis game.  Let’s go over the different surfaces and how you should approach playing on them.

Playing the Hard Court

The hard court is very common and it is also likely most players are already used to playing on this type of surface.  The key is to expect a fast paced game and a quick bounce.  Hard courts can have many different speed ratings, but the general rule to remember is that a hard court is only slower than grass.  The bounce on a hard court isn’t tricky, it will bounce about how you expect most of the time.  You can learn about a common alternative to hard courts that is easier on your body at TennisShoeView.

The Red Clay Courts

Less common are clay courts made from crushed brick.  These courts have a lot of loose material laid out on the surface.  This material causes a lot of friction on the ball and it will shoot up when it bounces, right before you hit it.  This effect really makes the ball slow down and sit up for you to hit it.  It can grant you a lot of extra time that you might not be used to playing on your normal court.  The other thing you need to watch out for though is movement.  Moving on clay is tricky because you have to slide.  Practice sliding into your shot early rather than later.  The worst feeling is hitting your shot and sliding away from the court, while inviting your opponent to do whatever he pleases to finish off the point

Wimbledon Grass Courts

Chances are you won’t get a chance to play on real grass courts like the ones used at Wimbledon.  Some places do have synthetic grass courts though that will at least try to imitate the grass surface qualities.  The main thing to look out for is the low bounce of the ball.  This really takes away your time and forces you to react very quickly.  This timing adjustment is very hard for players to make, much harder in fact than the adjustment needed for a clay court.  Having less time in tennis just means you have to be that much faster when deciding where your going to play the ball.  Because of the low bounce serves and slice shots become great weapons in grass court tennis.  Hit plenty of spinning serves and ground strokes to take advantage of this unique property of the surface.