Playing tennis on clay presents different problems for the tennis player.
Although there are a few different types of clay court such as Green Clay Tennis Courts, Us Clay Tennis Courts & European Red Clay Tennis Courts, the problems are pretty much the same.
Clay is seen as the slowest of the tennis court surfaces as well as having an unstable surface that requires the player to slide around and into shots, which apart from requiring you to wear special clay court tennis shoes, can make things very difficult if you are not used to playing on the surface.
Because it is so different, you tend to have players that specialize on the surface and historically they are players from countries that have their players growing up on the surface from an early age.
Recently the dominant players on the surface have been Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer and in the past players like Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl &Thomas Muster to name but a few, who earnt their name by dominating and winning at the clay Grand Slam of The French Open At Roland Garros.
The thing about clay courts is that it allows players more time to get each ball and means that the effectiveness of many players’ power game is reduced.
Qualities like patience and physical (and mental) fitness become more important.
You now have to win more points with combinations of shots and consistency rather than the one big shot that you may normally be able to on grass courts, hard courts or indoor courts.
I have a FREE PDF for you about playing on clay that you can grab straight away.
These tactics can not only be used to improve your game when you are playing tennis on clay courts, but can also be used to improve your tennis regardless of where you play – so it’s gonna be really useful!!
