How are hard-court tennis, clay-court tennis and grass-court tennis different?

Question

Do the player play differently? Does the ball behave differently? How? Why?

Answer 1

well on the clay court usually more defensive play is essential and more top spin because the ball slows down, and its a medium bounce, but also goes dead quicker.. drop shots on clay dangerous!

Grass at one point use to be the fastest, the ball would skil lower, and it would help the more aggressive players, better for serve and volleys.. especially back in the older days... but in the recent years they have slowed down the grass courts, heavier balls, and less speed off the grass... the ball will bounce up more.

hardcourt particulary at the US OPEN is the fastest court, and the ball will move the fastest but also have more spring in bounce in it compared to a grass court... usually flatter strokes help on this surface.

but in any case all court players do the best on any surface..

Answer 2

Essentially the harder the court the higher the ball bounces. This means that players have to play slightly different strokes, depending on whether they or better at lower strokes are higher strokes will help determine which court they are better on.

Answer 3

On Hard courts you get a more true bounce and depending how much sand they use in the paint will depend on the speed. Grass is always the faster surface and tends to cause the ball to slide more. But that surface also can be made to be slower by the type of grass and also by how much sand is used. Clay courts are a little more complicated. There is red and green clay (red being the slowest) and there is also synthetic clay which is more like dirt with tinny pieces of rubber laded on top. The thing that clay does that the other two do not, is that clay enhances all shots. It magnifies everything. If you hit a lot of top spin, the ball will  bounce very high. If you slice the ball, it will stay very low. It basically exaggerates all your shots. Also, because it is not a solid surface, There are times when the ball may hit a rather hard spot ( and the ball then speeds up) as apposed to when it sometimes  hits a clump of dirt and then the ball just seems to die. Well that's about it. good luck.

Answer 4

Clay - Slow

Hard - Fast

Grass - Faster

Answer 5

Hard court - Fast and higher bounce

Grass court - Semi-fast and medium bounce

Clay court - Slow and low bounce (can drop dead sometimes)

Answer 6

Yep, well, most players just play their game according to whoever they are, they're just them. Sometimes the surfaces need them to play differently, if they wanna play more efficiently on that surface, though. Clay courts have a tendency to slow the ball down, although make it bounce higher than usual, so it's best off for fast people who use lots of spin. Grass courts are so soo low, and flat, which makes the balls you hit stay very low to the floor, and the speed is in the middle of clay and harcourt. People who're strong, fast, and flexible may handle these well. Hardcourts are the most common, and fastest surface played on. The balls bounce at a decent height, but still is fun to play on. There're also rubber, and carpet courts out there, too :]

It'd be so awesome if they made air courts, like play a tournament on a huge blimp, or one in an underwater facility! :D