Grass to carpet: Various types of tennis courts

Tennis is one of the most followed sports in the world. If you watch the game of tennis you might have noticed that even though the size of the court remains the same it is not always played in the same type of court. Here, we bring to you the various types of tennis courts:

Grass Court

Grass courts are the most uncommon type of tennis court. They are mostly found only in the professional circuit, mainly because they are very hard to maintain. As the name suggests, it is a court covered with grass over very hard-packed soil. Grass courts are usually very slippery and the ball bounces are fast and low. Due to its nature, serve plays a very huge role in grass courts compared to other type of courts. Grass courts usually favour the serve-and-volley kind of players more. Wimbledon is a tournament played on grass court. Today, such courts are mainly found in the United Kingdom.

Clay Court

Clay courts are a bit more common compared to grass courts. Clay courts are not really made of clay but rather red clay courts are made of crushed bricks and green clay courts are made of metabasalt. Clay courts are complete opposite of Grass courts as the ball bounces slower and higher here. It generally favours strong baseline players who play a lot with topspin. Such courts are found more in Europe and South America. The French Open or Roland Garros is played in a Clay court.

Hard Court

Hard Courts are the most common type of tennis court found across the world. It is made of concrete or asphalt. The bounce is relatively faster and higher i.e. it is faster than clay courts but slower than grass courts. It is easy to gain control on Hard courts as the bounce is generally predictable. As it is predictable, a player needs to be dynamic to gain success in a Hard court. The US Open and Australian Open are played in a Hard Court.

Carpet Court

In tennis, carpet means ‘any removable covering’. The material of court differs in terms of thickness, textures, etc. in Carpet courts. In this type of courts, the ball usually bounces at a faster speed and keeps low. The use of Carpet courts for professional tournaments was discontinued by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in the year 2009.

Indoor Court

As the name suggests, Indoor court means tennis courts which are covered or are inside a building. Different court surfaces like grass, clay, hard are used in an Indoor court; though hard surface are most popular. The main advantage of Indoor court is the fact that the game can go on regardless of weather conditions. Indoor courts are used for professional events like ATP Finals.