When thinking about what blog topic I wanted to write about, I wanted to discuss something I love, which is tennis. However I could not decide what part of the sport to write about seeing that their were many different avenues to take until I thought about the surfaces and the many different types there are. This gave me the idea to write about a different surface in each blog post which include clay, grass, hard, and carpet. This weeks blog entry is going to be about the history of the clay courts, but first I want to give a little background on the sport itself.
The Game of Tennis has been around for centuries, but it may not have been recognizable to the version that we all know and love today. Dating all the way back to a 12th century French handball game known as Paume (palm) later known as Jeu de Paume (game of the palm), the game became more and more popular until it developed into the modern day sport with the use of racquets and other various equipments.
Fast forward a couple hundred years, more and more surfaces began to appear around the world, one of them in particular being clay courts. It was not until the late 19th century that clay courts emerged when William Renshaw, seven time Wimbledon champion, decided to cover his grass court with a thin layer of red powder. He did this in order to protect the grass from burning in the scorching summer sun. He did this by grinding down the rejected clay pots that did not pass inspection from the town of Vallauris in the south of France unknowingly developing the first red clay tennis court. The clay court that Renshaw developed is not nearly as advanced to what is played on today, however, it paved the way for what was to come.
Now a days red clay courts are typically made up of red brick dust, crushed white limestone, a coal residue known as clonker, and crushed gravel in order to make the red surface that is so popular in Europe.
In the United states however, a different type of clay courts were adopted instead of the European red clay seen. Green clay courts are the most common type of clay in the U.S. which are made from crushed basalt, also known as volcanic rock.
Although the only visual difference between the two types of courts is the color, each surface plays differently. the European red clay courts tend to play slower, meaning the clay grips the surface of the ball and slows it down after bouncing. The Green clay courts results in a faster ball that also makes the surface feel harder as well. Each surface is different to each player and can either give you an advantage or disadvantage when facing an opponent. Now a days, people come from all types of tennis backgrounds growing up playing on different surfaces allowing them to figure out what their strong suit is and what type of surface plays to their strengths.
As fun as clay courts are to play on, there is also a considerable amount of maintenance that goes into a clay tennis court whether it is a red clay or green clay. After the surface is played on, the court must be brushed which helps redistribute all of the clay that was misplaced after playing on it. Brushing also dries out the clay on the court so it is necessary to water the court afterwards to avoid cracks and keep the courts in an optimal playing condition. In addition to brushing and watering, rolling a clay court is important as well.
A roller will help make the court firmer and faster and also compacts the clay down making sure that the clay particles do not spread around and build up in one place. Typically rolling is done in the mornings once a day when the courts have a good amount of moisture, however, there is no set amount of times a court should be rolled. It all depends on ones preference.
Overall clay tennis courts are just one of the many types of surfaces that I will be discussing throughout the course of this blog and we will examine the history behind these amazing creations. By the end of this blog series, I will have gone over four types of tennis courts and the history behind them. Those being clay courts, grass courts, hard courts, and carpet courts. I hope this sheds light and sparks interest in people in order to better understand a sport with so much history behind it.