Learn how to play on different types of courts and unusual locations for playing tennis 🎾 #bettertennis
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Today we’ll talk about courts surfaces and how to use them to your advantage to play better tennis. ⭐️
🎾 The right tactic for the right surface
Each type of surface has a great influence on the speed and height of the ball rebound. This directly impacts the style and effectiveness of how the game is played.
It is not unusual that the same players at different courts demonstrate a completely different class of games.
Your game plan needs to be adapted accordingly.
There are three main types of tennis courts:
1️⃣ Ground (Clay court) type of European red "clay"
The slower American coating Har-Tru, Fast-Dry, also belongs to this type. Playing on such a court is pleasant and absolutely harmless to your feet, with a ground rhythm that allows the tennis player to prepare well for the hit.
You have a wide range of tactics:
Serve on the clay court is of secondary importance. The main reason is a sharp drop in the feed rate after the ball touches the ground. The second is a high rebound. Both of these components give time to adjust to the opponent’s supply and with a high probability to return the ball to his side.
But ultra-fast serves, more than 200 - 210 km/h, are a very formidable weapon on the clay. It is difficult to chip return such feeds, even on the slowest clay. Therefore, power tennis players with a good serve on clay show quite decent results.
As for the chip return of serve, aggressive return comes in the first place. Unlike a fast surface, where it is important to put the ball back on the opponent’s side, it is necessary to create pressure on the opponent from the very beginning on a slow surface. Therefore, you need to be able to aggressively return the serve (especially the second)
Perhaps one of the most important elements when playing on the clay is the physical strength of a tennis player. On the clay, you need to be able to attack and generate strength yourself in blows, punching an opponent.
That’s because on a slow surface the tennis player will have time to run into a strong shot (forehand or backhand), and therefore all you need is to execute this shot as powerfully as possible so that your opponent does not reach it.
2️⃣ Asphalt or cement coated with acrylic film (Hardcourt).
The above pic is a tennis court cover that has hosted the Australian Open for several years. These are the fast ones - hard belongs to Rebound Ace.
Serving and returning on an outdoor hard - this is something in between the performance of these elements on an indoor hard and clay. The basic rule applies: the faster the surface, the more important the return and the high percentage of shots on the first serve and, conversely, the slower the coverage, the more important the speed of the first serve and active return.
The technique of playing on an outdoor hard is primarily associated with an average tempt (player’s shots speed). So, on quick surfaces, a tennis player can build on his/her strengths in the first place.
If a tennis player knows how to powerfully serve, they should bet on the serve. If he knows how to play ahead of the curve, he/she must move and carry out punches even faster. On slow surfaces, power and stamina come to the fore. Here, a tennis player may not have a chic technique, the soil will smooth out the roughness. The main thing is power.
On the outdoor hard, the main thing is to cover your weak spots, as any of your weaknesses is an advantage for your opponent. So, if you have a weak serve return, it throws you far, compared to tennis players with a good return. You do not have a good serve, again, it will be difficult for you to compensate.
Weak backhand - and there is not much time to run into forehand on outside hard. So you need to train the backhand.
In general, on outside hard, all-purpose tennis players have an advantage, and it does not matter that you do not have the best forehand in the world, the main thing is that there are no weak elements in the game.
3️⃣ Grass court
The original game of tennis was called "lawn tennis"- i.e. tennis on the lawn (grass). Playing on the grass is pleasant and exotic - the Wimbledon tournament is traditionally held on grass fields. This is a very fast surface.
The grass is slippery, especially at the beginning of its creation, and if it is also covered with water (dew or after rain), then it becomes extremely difficult to move. Often tennis players get various leg stretches on the grass. At Wimbledon, a huge number of withdrawals in the first rounds is no coincidence. One wrong move and the tennis player falls.
Next is a low rebound of the ball. It is on grass that the rebound of the ball is the lowest of all surfaces. This will give additional work for the legs, the tennis player must additionally squat in order to correctly select the point of impact. And this is the load on the knees.
Due to the quick rebound, the game is getting extremely fast, and tennis players will not have time for a powerful swing or running into a strong forehand (less often a backhand). Therefore, a tennis player must be able to play both forehand and backhand.
Like on other fast courts, you need to serve on the grass at least 175 km/h, if your average serve speed is lower, then you will be far behind your opponents who can serve this way. The same applies to the second serve. 140 km/h in the second serve immediately gives the initiative to the opponent.
Return serving in the game on the grass is given special attention. There is no need for an active return, just return the ball to the opponent’s side.
🎾 Unique tennis courts and non-traditional locations
🇫🇷 The court on the roof of the Galeries Lafayette department store in Paris. It was functional for the "Roland Garros-2011".
🇸🇬 Two courts are located in Singapore's 47-story Holiday Inn Atrium, on the 32nd floor.
🏴 There are worldwide examples of other high-rise buildings, on the roofs of which fully-fledged courts are equipped.
The one with the highest altitude (211 meters) is a court temporarily built on a building where on February 2005, on the eve of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Roger Federer and Andre Agassi starred in an ad commercial for the Burj Al Arab Hotel.
🇨🇭 Tennis at an altitude of 3.450 meters - on July 2014, 10 days after his unsuccessful Wimbledon ending, Roger Federer and Lindsey Vonn (the Olympic champion in alpine skiing) played tennis on the mountain glacier.
🇺🇸 A court with an unusual color scheme was created in 2005 in Honolulu (Hawaii, USA) by the Taiwanese artist Michael Lin (Mural Lin), enlarging the patterns of decorative fabrics in architectural installations.
The customer: The Contemporary Museum of Hawaii.
🇪🇸 On April 2014, as part of the presentation of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tournament, David Ferrer and Rafael Nadal showcased their skills at the Gran Teatro del Liceo opera house.
The “Gran Teatre del Liceu” is the second-largest opera in Europe after the Milanese “La Scala”.
🇮🇹 In 2017, a clay court was laid out at the San Paolo Converso church in Milan.
🇬🇧 On June 2004, American Express had a marketing campaign involving a grass-covered floating court that was being pulled by a tugboat on the Thames river.
The players were two ex-first rackets of the world and two left-handed players: John McEnroe and Monica Seles.
🏴 Polish architect Krzysztof Kotala proposed building a tennis arena in Dubai at the bottom of the sea, in the Persian Gulf shelf area, between the Burj Al Arab Hotel and the artificial island of Palm Jumeirah.
The underwater tennis complex includes both the sports arena itself and the aquarium above it, with a seven-court complex roof made of a coral reef showcasing an abundance of marine life to the area. It would also create the illusion of a natural atoll.
🔥 Bonus link: amazing tennis courts
⭐️ Masterclass from Rafa
Don’t worry be happy! 😇
Thanks for reading 🙌
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