Bouncing Between Surfaces

Every day, a new surface. France is home to the widest variety of tennis court surfaces in the world. As someone who has been playing my whole life on hard courts, it’s astonishing how many different surfaces are out there. My first trip to France in August was initially very challenging, as I was forced to adjust my game to new surfaces every tournament.

In the summer, I began on a porous asphalt, called Quick, which is essentially a hard court with a laminated porous surface to allow the courts to dry quicker than a traditional hardcourt. These courts bounce higher than a hard court, but also skid quite quickly with slice shots, hence their name. Next, I played on a standard hard court, then red clay, both normal surfaces around the rest of the world. Then I played on artificial clay, which is essentially a turf court with sand on it. Yes, I mean turf like a high school football field and sand from the beach. It was a weird experience to play on it because the bounces were fast like quick but if the ball bounced where there was too much sand, it bounced very low and dead. Not to mention you could slide on the court like traditional clay. However, it should be noted that most clay courts can vary in their playability enormously, even within the Paris region.

Most recently, I played on a hard wood court, made up of wood rectangles with a sandpaper finish meant to mimic a hard court. The sandpaper finish slowed down the pace of the bounce, but the forgiveness of the wood made the balls skid through the court. For me, it was a weird combination of fast and slow, but it was easy to get used to.

In January, I began my calendar year playing on carpet in Germany, which was like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was so fast that it nearly felt like a different sport. I also played a league match on a soft hard court that played sort of like Quick but had the sandpaper finish like the hard wood court. The court itself was soft enough to feel the forgiveness with your finger, so the bounces sprung through the court.

I believe this variety of surfaces and court conditions is a major contributor to the success of French tennis. Over the last few decades, France continuously has had the greatest representation in the ATP Top 100. Other factors such as Federation support, training, and facilities should be acknowledged too, however the variety in surfaces and conditions forces players to develop a wide range of skills and game styles like no other. Frequently bouncing between court surfaces results in adaptable game styles that can adjust to the different conditions when travelling the world for professional events. Countries like the U.S. have predominately one surface, resulting in one-dimensionality in skills and game styles. It becomes easy to see why other countries like the U.S. struggle with producing the best players in the world.