For the Love of Clay

photo: Ewan Hersey

Red Clay Courts. Is there anything more alluring than a well maintained pile of crushed red dirt & crisp white court lines when you 1st see it? I don’t think so. Ever since I was 8 yrs. old and my tennis bestie invited me to practice with her at the Philadelphia Tennis Club I felt overwhelmed by how regal clay courts present themselves. Their texture, so organic and alive. To play on this soft cushy surface that can transport me to a ball out of reach by sliding to grab it almost 2 meters away? I was hooked completely🥰. But the reality is there are very few red clay courts in the US. Certainly not in abundance. Green clay sure, but Har-tru are common & still play fast. Har-Tru, a brand name, plays closer to a hard court in terms of speed. I had my eye on the red stuff, because it feels special. Turns out, red clay courts also require special attention, maintenance even the right clay.

When I started watching professional tennis as a kid, I fell for The French Open, obviously. After a hot French Open match I’d book time at the only other clay court club around in Philly, (Cheltenham Racquet Club) who had red clay courts out back come Summer time. I wasn’t a member but I took lessons there for the thrill of the clay. The lessons seemed to go on forever. By the end, I’d be a pile of exhaustion, covered in red that wouldn’t wash out😜, happy as a clam & on my way to the register to book my next lesson. Not for the instruction but the experience!

If you’ve ever experienced FLOW, you know there’s nothing like it. I’d always reach flow on the clay getting lost in the long rallies it produces. It was unique, charming and pure. What’s not to like.

What’s it feel like to play on the red clay?

If you find a clay court that’s been well maintained each year, it’s lovely. It’s slow certainly. But it feels so much better on the body. Red clay offers a built-in padding you can’t find on a hard court. Oddly clever bounces arrive out of nowhere, knock you off balance & your perplexed how it happened in the 1st place🧐. The red clay is the slowest tennis court surface by far. It feels a little like time stood still waiting for your ball to return compared to play on hard courts. It’s also tricky to change directions on the red clay, but sliding is great fun & once you’re brave enough to go for it & slide into a shot, you feel like a kid again capable of anything.

Pro tip🧙🏼

Looking for an adult tennis holiday on the red clay courts of Mallorca, Spain your level for Summer 2023 click here.

You’ll grab & play more balls on the clay courts and as long as the clay’s been properly maintained (that’s the key🧙🏻) it feels soft, consistent and slowww. If you’re wearing clay court tennis shoes it feels even softer, less slippery. And bonus, on clay you’ll play longer rallies by nature of the surface, which means more tennis for you😁.

You’ll rarely hit big winners on the clay, so put your thinking cap on because you’ll need to play strategically if you’re staying in longer rallies. You’ll also need patience. Red clay tennis courts demand patience & endurance to find the winner at the end of a long rally. But that’s what makes it fun & a great workout🥵.

Why it’s great to learn on red clay

The Slide.

The red clay courts are excellent for little kids or adults learning the game for the first time because of the built-in TIME the surface allows. The ball bounces slower, giving you time to execute your shot. When the ball bounces on clay it sits UP to greet you in your strike zone. This helps people really learn the ideal contact point for you & your personal shots. Funky bounces are part of the life on clay so be alert for surprise attacks out of nowhere. Once you’ve experienced this you likely won’t lose focus on-court again because you’re aware it can happen anytime. Even more so if the courts aren’t maintained well.

When I started Costa del Tennis adult tennis holidays it was for the red clay surface & clay court training. I knew it was a unique experience many didn’t have in their home countries and it’s still the best surface to learn & improve your tennis game on. Especially for adults because the surface is so forgiving on the body, they can play longer while preserving their joints and knees.

Why do you think so many parents call about clay court junior training? Because it’s great for foundational learning, patience and match play. It demands a player thinks through a point and creates a way to win the point. With more clay court junior tournaments happening junior players often stay 3 mths. at an academy to prepare for such playing events. This isn’t a court surface you want to meet for the 1st time without feeling & understanding how to navigate it.

Braking in tennis is one of the most important things to do on court. Braking means to STOP, likely pivot in another direction on the clay. Learning how to move or lean into a slide, manage it & retrieve a ball is an absolute blast. There isn’t a better way to play!

Why don’t we see more red clay courts around the world?

For one thing clay courts are common in Europe. In Spain & France (two top tennis countries) they’re everywhere, it’s the primary court surface. They’re also abundant in Italy & South America and Russia. But the nicest clay courts can be found in …Germany😮 and at Roland Garros, of course. Yet in the two dominating tennis training countries (Spain & France) well maintained clay courts are hard to find.

Obviously ATP/WTA/ITF events are properly maintained in any country hosting professional tourneys you see on TV. I’m referring here to the recreational tennis clubs where juniors & adults practice or join clubs, etc. We aren’t talking professional tennis or events here.

The main difference with the courts in Germany (and Roland Garros) is the construction and the underground of the courts are different. It’s much more complicated than the construction in Spain, for example.

In countries that have Winter time, the old gravel/clay must be scraped away in the Spring and new clay applied. That way when water or rain (thank you, Mother Nature) comes it can easily pass through the top surface. The rain helps repair & replenish the court surface by compacting the old & new clay together.

For example, in Spain, you have to water the courts in Summer all the time by hand or the sprinkler system and that’s not an optimal preservation method to combine and compact both old & new surfaces. Because the underground surface in Spain is marries a hot court with a top layer of clay just moving around and not absorbing together with the surface underneath it. One big gust of wind can literally whisk away that top surface and you’ll instantly find yourself playing on a hard court instead of a clay surface😠.

In Germany, where they have approximately 8,800 tennis clubs, they invest a lot in the maintenance of the clay courts. Here you might have a maintenance person only for the clay courts. Literally a dedicated person who’s primary job is to maintain clay courts properly. In the larger German clubs that dedicated court person might care for the courts each day. In the smaller clubs they’ll take care 1 or 2x per week. They brush the courts with extra care using a proper 2 meter brush to fill the court holes and water it well making sure to blend both top and lower surfaces. Once they notice areas that aren’t compacting together, they’ll cylinder it again with a machine (as above), especially in the 1st 4 - 6 weeks.

The real work to achieve beautiful clay courts happens in March & April, so that by May the courts are nearly perfect and require minimal maintenance from there.

In Italy again, for example, the courts aren’t very good because they don’t have a lot of rain during the Summer time. Countries like; Spain, Italy, France, etc. are trying to SAVE water so they don’t water enough. When clubs don’t water the clay courts enough you’ll start to notice the court lines, which are plastic, extend and don’t hold well to the court surface.

In summary, in order to satisfy and harden the clay court you need the bottom and top surfaces to merge or marry as one. Water from rain or watering by hand must be able to move through both court surfaces easily. You don’t want your clay courts Sahara desert dry, because they’ll play like a hard court or the ball won’t bounce at all. This is exactly what you don’t want. But when countries or a particular club is looking to save on water, you’ll likely find poorly maintained clay courts😏.

The Quality of the clay matters.

Lastly, and this can’t be taken for granted. The quality of your clay matters. If the quality of the clay is good then the court is good. In countries like the Czech Republic where they’re looking to save money & have clay courts, the quality of their clay isn’t very good and therefore the quality of the courts aren’t very good either.

From here we’ll go deeper into clay court maintenance for tennis clubs, private court owners & public facilities with clay courts. The intention is to give a deep dive for free into how to prepare & maintain clay courts throughout the years so that more facilities can better explore & give a terrific tennis experience to its players & members😌.

Monika Cerna, our lead coach in Portugal is not only fascinated by the topic but has been learning, teaching & maintaining courts since she’s been 15 years old in Germany and the Czech Republic. She’s been training tennis club Owners, groundskeepers & maintenance workers how to provide the very best clay courts for its members throughout Germany and other countries & clubs who require professional clay court services. It’s also outstanding knowledge for tennis coaches to know the ins & outs of clay court maintenance and help do their part.

With love from Mallorca~