Almost all tennis surfaces can be divided into two categories: fast courts and slow courts. On a fast court – which includes indoor carpet, grass and artificial grass – the ball is going to shoot through and be on you much quicker. This means that you are going to have to take much shorter backswings, but also that the ball will retain more pace when you receive it, so you don’t need to generate so much yourself. On a slower court – such as clay, or most park courts – the ground has much more friction, so all the pace comes out of the ball when it lands. This means you have to twist your whole body to generate power, but the ball will bite into the surface and spin better.
What to expect
On fast surfaces, the points will be quick. This means that a fast-court game is all about playing tennis in front of you. Halve all of your backswings, and make good use of slices and the continental grip. This means you won’t have to change grip from forehand to backhand, and that the ball will shoot through very low. You can rapidly get your opponent in trouble this way, but remember that your topspin shots are not going to get the ball to kick much off the surface.
If you’re playing on a slow court you will need to be fit and a lot more patient. The rallies will be longer, so your legs must be in great shape, both to keep moving and because you’re going to be using your whole body to generate more pace.
This will make you a lot more tired, too.
On slow surfaces, you can hit the ball very hard and it will still just sit there, so you’ve got to keep the ball deep or you’re going to get attacked. This is why many clay-court players use a lot of topspin and hit the ball high over the net – to make it bounce up high over the opponent’s baseline.
Think about the weather
In windy conditions, you can feel as if you’re playing on a slow court at one end and a fast court at the other. When hitting into the wind, you’ll need to strike the ball much harder; when playing with the wind, you’ll need to keep the ball lower over the net, but still use a lot of topspin to get it under control.
On a hot day the ball is going to fly through the air quicker, so get your racket back and concentrate on hitting the ball well out in front. If it’s cold, this can affect the temperature of the ball and the bounce can appear a bit dead, so bend your knees more and move closer to the net.
If it is wet the ball can become heavy, which means it’s especially important to make contact in front of your body, or you might get injured. Try to keep the points short – you don’t want to be out there for a couple of hours with wet tennis balls or you’ll end up with a sore elbow.
Now try this …
Even if you don’t have access to a fast surface, try to mimic the effect by taking each shot as the ball is rising. To get used to playing in front of yourself, remember that you should always be able to see your racket, and have your practice partner throw some balls to you as you stand with your back against a fence, which will limit your backswing. To develop your slow-court play, get used to standing another metre behind the baseline and work on getting your whole body into your shots. To do so, it might help to try changing to a more open stance so you can twist from your legs.
What am I doing wrong?
If you tend to suffer during the longer rallies on a slow court, then you may need to be a bit tougher in the head. Don’t get frustrated when your best shots don’t win points as easily as they would on a carpet court. Just accept that the ball is going to keep coming back, and wait for a short one you can attack.
On grass, people often don’t allow for the fact that the ball is going to bounce lower and they don’t bend their knees enough. You really have to get down to it, particularly for topspin shots, which you need to hit from low to high.
Source: Read Full Article