If you watch tennis games on TV sometimes, you would know the two different types of tennis courts. One is a clay court,( it looks like it’s made with sand and it has a reddish color), and the other one the more common one is a hard court, it is green and has white outlines.

So you might be questioning, “does it make a big deal?“. Surprisingly it really does, they both have their unique characteristics, and he/she could maybe play like a professional tennis player on a clay court, but play like a beginner on hard court. I’ll tell you about both courts and the unique characteristics.

Clay court

So I’ll start off clarifying one COMMON misconception about clay courts. The majority of people think that the court is covered with sand, however it is actually crushed brick set to make the court. This type of court may be the CHEAPEST court to construct, however it takes a LOT of work(and money) to maintain the court. Clay courts are less likely to bring injuries, because the surface of the floor is soft comparing to hard courts. So people who are old tend to prefer clay courts instead of hard courts. A very BIG characteristic about clay courts is that the ball bounces lower and slower, comparing to hard courts. This is why players who only play on clay courts have a hard time playing on hard courts. The video below, is a video of  Rafael Nadal the player who is known as “The King of Clay”.

Hard Court

So hard courts are the courts that you guys are mostly familiar with. They are more often used in professional games than  clay courts. The biggest difference between hard courts and clay courts is the speed of the bounce, and how high the ball bounces. Comparing to clay courts, a ball will bounce 1.5 times faster than it would on a clay court. People who have an advantage on hard courts are the people who hit hard, rather than look at the courses and hit angles. The US open and the Australian open are both played on hard courts. This video below is a video of the US open.