Clay court
Although slightly less expensive to construct than other types of tennis courts, clay requires much maintenance: the surface must be watered and rolled regularly to preserve texture and flatness, and brushed carefully before each game.
[1] Clay courts, although now commonly associated with continental Europe, were the invention of the English tennis player William Renshaw (a seven times Wimbledon champion) and his twin brother Ernest.
[2] The Renshaws had built a grass court at their summer home on the French Riviera, but found it unable to withstand prolonged exposure to heat and sunlight.
[2] This powder was sourced from discarded terracotta discovered at a small ceramics factory in Vallauris, near Cannes, where the brothers regularly purchased decorative pots for their garden.
These proved very popular once offered as a product, and by the 1920s the company was responsible for laying clay courts for the Davis Cup and at the French, British and Canadian Championships.
[4] During the following decade the American engineer H. A. Robinson went still further, creating a surface based on classic clay augmented with green piled metabasalt rock, which he hoped would help deliver a more consistent bounce.
Natural clay courts are rare because this type of surface does not absorb water easily and takes two to three days to dry.
[9] In Britain, where En-Tout-Cas is based, most red clay courts have a surface dressing of burnt shale (with or without brick) for drainage purposes.
However, shale courts are now comparatively rare, having been steadily replaced in many clubs by all-weather synthetic surfaces (including artificial clay).
[10] Shale 'clay' courts tend to be a lighter shade of red than their European counterparts, and the gritty texture of the surface means that the ball does not slow down as quickly as it does on powdery continental clay.
Top Australian competitors such as Mal Anderson, Roy Emerson and Rod Laver, who all grew up in Queensland, practiced on ant bed courts when they were young.
[16] Clay courts are considered "slow" because the balls bounce relatively high and lose much of their initial speed when contacting the surface, making it more difficult for a player to deliver an unreturnable shot.
Clay courts favor baseliners who are consistent and have a strong defensive game, leading to players such as Rafael Nadal, Björn Borg, Chris Evert, and Justine Henin finding success at the French Open.
[18] Rafael Nadal, winner of a record 14 French Open men's singles titles, is noted for his success on clay; since his debut in 2005, he has only lost four times at the tournament – in 2009, 2015, 2021 and 2024.
[20] Other notable players who had significant success on clay include Ivan Lendl and Björn Borg - the former winning the French Open in 1984, 1986, and 1987, while the latter won it 6 times.
[citation needed] Due in part to advances in racquet technology, current clay-court specialists are known for employing long, winding groundstrokes that generate heavy topspin; such strokes are less effective on faster surfaces on which the balls do not bounce as high.
Anthony Wilding, Sergi Bruguera, Albert Costa and Gastón Gaudio were French Open champions who won all or nearly all of their career titles on clay.
Andrés Gimeno, Adriano Panatta, Manuel Orantes, Yannick Noah, Michael Chang, Thomas Muster, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moyá and Juan Carlos Ferrero won major titles only on clay, but won lower tournaments, including Masters Series events, on other surfaces.
[citation needed] The second is the long spring clay season that starts in the Americas and Morocco before moving to mainland Europe and finishing with the French Open.
