Red Clay Courts, Fresh Baked for Optimal Performance
If you’re a club owner, private court owner, managing a tennis club with red clay courts or a junior tennis academy serving tournament players with clay court training your courts should play the best they possibly can. Players travel far & wide for clay court training and tournament points. Adults also travel for tennis holiday’s or Professional events to experience events like; The Monte Carlo Open or French Open they’ve only seen on TV. The novel clay court experience that players pay good money for as a member of a paid club or a holiday travel experience shouldn’t go unnoticed! Therefore, maintaining red clay courts need not be revolutionary but like tending to your own garden. Clay courts need to be nurturing, sun, water, and care so players are happy and having a real experience.
A well maintained clay court looks runway ready
Let’s start with the courts color. It should be dark red from receiving adequate water supply & coverage. The court should mirror an airport runway. There shouldn’t be holes in the court, the lines should be straight, the court should feel hard so the ball bounces well. This is a well balanced and beautiful red clay court. And yes, the court should feel hard under foot, not soft. You want the most consistent bounce from the ball possible. Then you know the court is of high standard and you’re getting a great experience.
Unfortunately you won’t find a lot of red clay courts of this quality. Often and in top tennis regions around the world you find a lot of holes in the surface especially behind the baseline around the center mark & serving areas due to heavy foot traffic & slides.
Court lines should be straight and flush with the court, not raised - sticking out above the courts surface. This is a good indicator that the court has or hasn’t been properly & adequately hydrated.
Poorly hydrated courts means Sahara dry clay😡
The moment of truth for a club Owner of a clay court facility or a private clay court must decide to repair and maintain such a tennis court surface. It’s an obvious financial decision. The decision to be known for having quality or crap tennis courts for your facility or private clay court. Otherwise, players might pay once or twice but not again. Not unless they’re desperate to play and it’s all they have. And! This is one of the first things players comment about around the tennis club - the quality of the courts and how they play.
A natural clay or fast-dry clay court with an above ground irrigation system can cost between $18,000 - $24,000 per court to install. If your irrigation system is below the court’s surface it’s more expensive, between $25,000 - $30,000. You’d think a club owner would want to preserve their investment as best as possible. But if a club’s losing money, or has other motivations, they’ll do the least amount of court maintenance and the quality presents and plays as such.
Find a company who specializes in laying surfaces for sport facilities, not only tennis courts. Many are specialized in red clay court surfacing. Ironically in the region of Spain & Portugal, you’d be hard pressed to find companies who specialize at maintaining & preparing red clay courts which is bizarre because it’s where most clay courts are🧐!
For that I have a resource for you if you’re in Spain & Portugal looking for a professional service to teach you and your staff what’s needed and where to start to finish your courts in time for your tennis season👩🏻🔧!
A Club Owner or Tennis Director’s first point of contact is to look online for sport surfacing providers who also delivers clay. They should be able to offer a knowledgeable recommendation who can maintain your clay courts after installation based on your geographic region, specific site condition and who understands the construction of your courts.
Once you have a maintenance resource, they’ll get busy equalizing the holes with clay, water based on your soil and climate, cylinder your courts and brush them.
European red clay courts and their importance
While the US and Australia are dominated by hard court action, Europe & South America seem entitled to this clay surface of significance and has the most red clay courts. Many professional tournaments are played on the surface. There’s an entire season dedicated to clay court play known as clay court season, which begins for both ATP & WTA professional tournaments in April.
Men’s ATP 500 Masters and above
Monte-Carlo Masters: 9-16 April
Barcelona Open: 17-23 April
Madrid Open: 26 April - 7 May
Italian Open: 10-21 May
French Open (Grand Slam): 28 May - 11 Jun
Women’s WTA 500 Masters and higher
Charleston Open: 3-9 April
Stuttgart Open: 17-23 April
Madrid Open: 25 April - 6 May
Italian Open: 8-21 May
French Open (Grand Slam): 28 May - 11 June
In Europe, clay’s the most important surface and most economical court surface. It’s also knee friendly, easy on the joints and better for a players overall body.
For recreational adult players who like to compete, there are numerous clay court events held at the Rafa Nadal Academy throughout the year and the famous, ITF World Tennis Masters Tour MT 1000 each year in Mallorca for players 30+.
Rafa Nadal promo code for adults & juniors
The Quality of the Clay
The quality of the clay matters. Germany & Switzerland have very nice clay courts. In Spain & Portugal, maybe the courts aren’t terrible but most tennis clubs aren’t memorable for the quality of their clay courts.
Where can you buy the clay? The area of Munich has good clay resources. The secret to the clay is in it’s DIN standards by number. For instance, #18035T5 is a top quality clay standard. In Spain it’s #UNE, in England & other countries the DIN standards go by the same name.
The clay is made out of new roof tiles. It’s like a brick dust made from crushed - broken bricks which should be new. If the quality of these new roof tiles aren’t good then the clay isn’t good. The clay comes in bags or loose materials and it’s counted in metric tons.
The price of quality clay
In 2023, Bavaria, Germany it costs $130 euros for a ton of quality clay material. Germany has an excellent quality clay and no delivery problems. Another bonus is that they have more than 1 company purchase from.
In Spain there aren’t many companies, maybe 2. Likely clubs here get their clay abroad. In Portugal there are zero resources, so they’re getting their clay from Spain - Valencia area. Which is probably the reason you see so few red clay courts in Portugal. To ship the clay it’s expensive and counted in metric tons. In the South of Spain and Portugal it’s twice the price of German clay🤫!
Resources are slim around the world with clubs using maintenance people or gardeners to repair and maintain courts. But if they’re not properly trained and don’t know what to look for how is that a help? If they don’t have proper equipment and materials or where to get them how can this help? Most importantly, you want a resource to come & educate your people exactly what to do and when to do it so you’re prepared for opening season.
I have that resource for you.
And here’s another one in case you’ve made it to the end of the article.
With love from Mallorca~