Author Archives: Anna

Tennis Surfaces Explained, Part 3: Hard Court

While the best known tennis surface is undoubtedly grass, the majority of the tennis professional season is not played on that surface. Here, we look into the finer details of the most predominant surface on the professional tour: hard court. Despite the name, hard courts are not the hardest courts on the tennis tour. That honor goes to clay, where the ball bounces high and slow as a result. Hard courts are, in fact, more of a middle ground between the two ‘natural’ surfaces of clay and […]

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Tennis Surfaces Explained, Part 2: Clay

Anyone aspiring to be a professional tennis player will usually play on a variety of different surfaces. Here, we examine arguably the most difficult surface to play on: clay. In professional tennis, there are actually two forms of clay court used. The first, red clay, is the primary surface seen in the major tennis events in Europe. The second, green clay, is predominantly featured in Northern American tournaments. The two types of clay, however, differ little aside from their color, and feel fairly similar to play on. […]

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Tennis Surfaces Explained, Part 1: Grass

Professional tennis is played on a variety of different surfaces, which these articles examine in detail. This first article looks at the surface tennis is most commonly associated with: grass. Grass is the fastest of the tennis surfaces, meaning the ball bounces low and fast. This therefore naturally makes it a surface where big servers, such Andy Roddick, excel, as their opponents struggle to return serve due to the speed of the surface. It is also a surface that lends itself to playing on the baseline, as […]

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Clay vs. Grass: Battle of the Surfaces

‘Battle of the Surfaces’ was a tennis exhibition match that took place in the summer of 2007. It featured the top two players in the world, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and was played in Nadal’s home country of Mallorca (an island just off the Spanish coast). The main attraction at the match was the court; half of which was grass, half of which was clay.  In their careers and during their rivalry, both Federer and Nadal had established supremacy on one surface. Federer, the king of […]

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Tennis Shots: The Drop Shot

For players with anything other than the ultimate level of mobility around the court, one of the recurring nightmares which prevents them getting a night’s sleep must be the thought of facing a player blessed with a good drop shot. This shot may be one of the most frustrating to face when playing an opponent who knows how to hit it. If hit correctly and at the right time, a drop shot is unplayable. The idea behind the shot is that it is hit with little pace […]

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