French Open-tennis ball speed-court surface
The tennis court surface plays a big part in a players choice of shots, strategy and conditioning. The French Open is called a clay court surface. It is really white limestone covered with a layer of powdered red brick dust. This is to promote drainage in case of rain.
In my early days in New Jersey I was Head Pro at the East Orange Tennis Club, which consisted of 12 red clay courts. This was in the mid seventies when clay courts consisted of real clay covered with powdered red shale. Real clay is not porous and has no ‘sliding’ qualities to it when played on – hence the application of crushed red shale to promote sliding on the surface. At that time, if it rained – depending on the amount of rain – the courts would be out of play, sometimes for a couple of days. The water would ‘sit’ on top of the clay. It had no where to go. We would have to wait for it to evaporate as the clay underneath the crushed shale allowed no drainage. Sometimes, to speed tournament play, we would add a slight amount of flammable liquid to the water lying on the surface and light it on fire to speed the evaporation and get the court back into playable condition. The only problem occurred if the flame got too close to the lines laid on the court and they melted.
This type of surface had to change to accommodate the media attention the French Open attained as a Grand Slam event. Players and spectators did not want to wait for long periods of time, after rain, to return to play. Thus the white limestone with powdered red brick dust.
Ball speed off the court surface
With the granular content of the court, the ball making contact with the court surface has different bounce characteristics. Depending on the kind and amount of spin used by the player, the ball will bounce differently on ‘red clay’. A players ‘style’ of hitting makes some players stronger, or weaker, depending on the amount of spin they use. Their mental understanding and patience, due to extended rallies on the slower surface, also plays a part.
I have only touched on the player, and playing surface, qualities, The French Open challenges. This article hopefully challenges you to look closer at each players position on the court, their hitting style and mental approach to the game based on the ‘red clay’ experience.
