Grass court

A grass court is one of the four different types of tennis court. Grass courts are made of rye grass in different compositions depending on the tournament. Wimbledon with 100 percent rye grass is considered to be slower than other grass courts such as Queen's in London, and 's-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands.

Although more traditional than other types of tennis courts, maintenance costs of grass courts are higher than those of hard courts and clay courts. Grass courts need to be reseeded every year, and (in the absence of suitable covers) must be left for the day if rain appears as the grass becomes very slippery when wet.

Grass courts are most common in England, although there are still a few others remaining elsewhere in the world.

Play

Because the court is often slippery, the ball often skids and bounces low, rarely rising above knee height, while retaining most of its speed and in addition there are often bad bounces. Therefore players must reach the ball faster and as a result the fast, low bounces keep the rallies short therefore power is rewarded on grass. As a result on grass the serve and return plays a huge part in determining the outcome of the point, so it is very important to hold serve. Since points tend to be short, it is important to keep good focus because any lapse of concentration can lead to a service break.

Consequently, grass courts heavily favour serve and volleyers who are more aggressive and willing to sacrifice points in order for more winners overall. Serve and volleyers make it a target to finish the points off quickly and allow the ball to bounce as little as possible on their side of the net. Serve and volley players take advantage of the surface by serving the ball (usually a slice serve because of its effectiveness on grass) and then running to the net to cut off the return of serve, leaving their opponent with little time to reach the low-bouncing, fast moving ball. Therefore it's important to move in after the serve or the short/mid-court ball and win the point with a volley or overhead. In addition players often hit flatter shots to increase power and allow the ball to travel faster after and before the ball hits the ground.

Movement on grass courts is somewhat different to movement on any other surface. Even the way one's foot lands on grass which is a light dab, is rather different than the full-weight landing and sliding as one does on clay. Also the slipperiness demands using a lot of small adjustment steps to get in to the correct position. You will probably need to lower your centre of gravity to get down to the low or bad bounce. However playing on grass is easier on the knees due to a natural surface, but you cannot slide as you can on clay. Quick adjustments in the swing pattern and footwork are constantly needed so any movement or co-ordination weaknesses will show up immediately. In addition most grass court players also succeed on hardcourts, although there are some exceptions.

Above all, the grass forces players off the baseline and to the net. The back of the court, particularly in the second week, when the grass starts to get cut up, spells death. This is why all the great Wimbledon champions, such as Rod Laver, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer (Bjorn Borg being the sole exception) have been natural serve and volleyers.

Players

The most successful male player currently is Roger Federer, a five-time Wimbledon singles champion. His variety in the shots, speed, footwork and slices are his biggest weapons. Before being beaten in 2008 at Wimbledon by Rafael Nadal, Federer had a 65 match winning streak on Grass, and 40 consecutive wins at Wimbledon alone.

Historically, there have been three outstanding grass players, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, and Bjorn Borg. All have won at least 5 Wimbledon championships, whereas Sampras won 7. Other players who have also been relatively successful at Wimbledon are John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg,Jimmy Connors and Venus Williams.

Professional tournaments played on grass

Grand Slam

* Wimbledon (London, UK)

ATP

* Artois Championship (London, Queen's Club, UK)

* Gerry Weber Open (Halle, Germany)

* Ordina Open ('s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands)

* Nottingham Open (Nottingham, UK) - From 2009, will be discontinued from the ATP Tour and replaced with the Eastbourne event

* Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships (Newport, Rhode Island, USA)

WTA

* DFS Classic (Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK)

* International Women's Open (Eastbourne, England, UK)

* Ordina Open ('s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands)

ee also

*Tennis court

References