Clay vs. Grass Courts

Photos from Google

    In tennis, there are three surfaces which are played on: hard courts, clay, and grass. In this post I will cover the major differences between clay and grass courts.

Clay:
                 
               

Clay courts slow down the speed of the ball creating long rallies. Also, whether synthetic or real, clay is made of granulated bits. This means that sliding and slipping are commonplace when playing on clay. The only slam that is played on clay is the French Open.

Grass:

Grass courts speed the ball up significantly resulting in shorter rallies and more fantastic shots. The drawback is that grass is even more slippery than clay. The only slam that is played on grass is Wimbledon.

As shown on the graph, both surfaces attract different responses from different players. The baseline player who favors long rallies with heavy topspin shots will prefer clay, and the serve and volley player will prefer grass.