Tennis court types

[Ronald L Cooper]

Hi ,
Recently I started going to a tennis club. I used to play tennis in high school. I was pretty good even though I never played competitively. When I started playing here I felt it be really different. When I talked about this with other players this could because of the difference between courts.
Now I am actually trying to learn more about tennis. While searching for types of tennis courts I found this article. The article is pretty informative, It gives an overview of different types of tennis courts. But I want to learn more about them. I know there are a lot of people here who has a lot of experience than online resources. So help me understand.

 

[mrzz]

Welcome to the forum, Ronald.

Surfaces and environments (outdoor and indoor) really do change a lot you perception of the game, but reading your post it seems like you were out for quite a while, so one thing I can tell you is that 99% of what you are feeling is your body and brain getting used to the game again, not to mention possible differences in racquet/strings/balls.

Professional players will be very sensitive to differences in speed of different hard courts (that is, mostly anything other than clay and grass), but at amateur level, specially after a prolonged time without playing I would say the last thing that it is bothering you is the surface. Of course, if you change from a classical clay court to a fast hard court it is a hell of a difference (specially the slide), but again, the speed in which the game is played at amateur level gives you time enough in any case. Your feel of the ball is probably driven by your own technique and possibly by racquets and strings.

 

[Ross Wilson]

Welcome to the forum, Ronald.

Surfaces and environments (outdoor and indoor) really do change a lot you perception of the game, but reading your post it seems like you were out for quite a while, so one thing I can tell you is that 99% of what you are feeling is your body and brain getting used to the game again, not to mention possible differences in racquet/strings/balls.

Professional players will be very sensitive to differences in speed of different hard courts (that is, mostly anything other than clay and grass), but at amateur level, specially after a prolonged time without playing I would say the last thing that it is bothering you is the surface. Of course, if you change from a classical clay court to a fast hard court it is a hell of a difference (specially the slide), but again, the speed in which the game is played at amateur level gives you time enough in any case. Your feel of the ball is probably driven by your own technique and possibly by racquets and strings.

Yes I completely agree with your point. Surface change makes a lot of difference on your overall tennis play style and skills development. Hard court professional players find it somehow tedious to play on clay court because tennis ball does not come faster and you need more strength and stamina to play on such surfaces. Also I think as a tennis player, your mental toughness and thinking pattern changes as you play on different types of tennis courts.

Asphalt and synthetic surfaces also provide different tennis playing experiences to the player. So one must prepare and train well in advance before he/she decides to change the tennis court type. This is my honest opinion.