The main difference is the way the ball bounces on each floor. It seems like a small thing, but those who play tennis know that this can change the way the match is played. Exaggerating a bit, it’s as if each floor was home to a different sport. Just compare a game on a grass court and another on a clay court. In the latter, the ball bounces slowly, giving more time for tennis players to defend the hits. That’s why normally the points end up decided only after long exchanges of blows. On the grass, however, there is none of that: the ball bounces fast and it is difficult to defend the strongest kicks. Not to mention that the grass wears out easily, creating “gunner hills” on the court. “The ball drops in any direction. Can’t predict. Imagine when a guy serves at 240 km/h and you have no idea how the ball is going to bounce. Not a chance”, says former tennis player Fernando Meligeni. This is why grass courts are good for more offensive players. Clay is much better for those who prefer to exchange a lot of balls, like Guga does. Be that as it may, the favorite surface of most tennis players is neither clay nor grass, but synthetic. Traditionally, it is made of very hard plastic blades, which make the ball bounce in a middle ground between the slowness of clay and the maximum speed of grass. Among the Grand Slams, the four main tournaments in the world, two have synthetic courts (United States and Australia Opens), one of grass (Wimbledon, in England) and one of clay (Roland Garros, in France).
GRATLE
The dirt court is not exactly made of dirt, but of brick dust. This makes the floor very soft. When the ball bounces, most of its force is absorbed by the ground. Then she loses speed. The ball arrives in an almost horizontal trajectory, but the great friction with the floor makes it rise, making the game even slower
SMALL SLIDE
The clay dust leaves the court very smooth. Those who are used to the ground use this to slide towards the ball, getting there faster
SYNTHETIC
Despite having an inner layer of rubber, synthetic courts do not absorb the impact of the ball as much as clay. Thus, it loses less speed and does not go up as much, maintaining a more horizontal trajectory than on a clay court. This makes switching balls faster. The speed of this type of floor depends on the thickness of the inner layer of rubber: the smaller it is, the faster it is
IN LAYERS
This court is made with several layers of materials: one of powdered stone, three of asphalt, one of synthetic rubber and another two of acrylic resins.
CARPET
No, this floor is not the same as the carpet in your house. “It looks more like a borrachão”, says Fernando Meligeni. It even absorbs the bounce of the ball better than a synthetic court, which theoretically would make it lose more speed. “But, as the carpet is in closed gymnasiums, without side wind, the game becomes faster than on the synthetic floor”, says Meligeni
ERRANT FLOOR
The court is made of rubber compounds and is only called carpet because the floor can be rolled up to change gyms.
GRAM
This floor has more to do with a rug than a football field. The grass is dense and short, trimmed to a height of just 8 millimeters. The surface offers little friction to brake the ball, which when sliding on the grass hardly loses speed and stays close to the ground. That’s why the pace of the game here is the fastest
BALD SQUARE
The grass wears out quickly and the ground underneath is never quite flat, which makes the court uneven and the bounce of the ball unpredictable.