From Hard to Clay court...

[samsung24]

Hi everyone!

I have been playing tennis for almost 2years now. I've been practicing and playing tennis almost everyday. We have only hard courts in our area, I never tried playing in clay court. Now, I am coming back home this coming December. My friend told me that we have 4 clay courts close in our area, no hard courts.
I know that clay courts are slow but other than that Is there any big difference? Shall I adjust my playing style in hardcourts? Can I use the same shoes?
I use semi-western, I like to hit flat if I go to winners. What I am afraid is my footwork. I dont remember I slide my foot in hard courts hehe'h..

please advise.. thanks

[halalula1234]

foot work will be more challenging since its more slippery there so harder for u to get a grip down there. Learn to slide into ur shots and stuff. I think its better for a defensive game since u can slide like a crazy person and reach more shots possible than hard courts. also i dont get as much leg muscle pain when playing on clay than if i play on hard courts. In my area the only courts avaliable to be booked are clay ones and synthetic grass ones. which are pretty similar really almost the same. high bounce and slow and slipery! I actually started playing tennis for the first time on synth grass.

yeah u can use the same shoes..i once even played in my converse shoes cus my tennis shoes got wrecked. and it work just fine.

u may have to adjust u playing style slightly because the surface is slower and the bounces are higher also its more slippery. Maybe i recommend hitting with more stop spin cus i think to hit a flat everytime but if u're going for winner like u said then go for it.

but yeh the foot work will take a bit to get used to especially if u;re a big tall person.

[samsung24]

thanks halalu..

I will try to practice now more top spin than flat, I think it's useless to hit flat winners especially it bounces high and the opponent can still hit the ball back to u.
I used to dance (sorry i dont know how to explain) in the court. Don't you think I should change my style and try to relax my feet in clay? Yeah I am taller than my friends, I'm 5'11 hehe'h...

By the way, I have babolat shoes, almost the same shoes of andy roddick...

[mikeler]

You should use a non-marking sole for your shoes. This will allow you to slide on the clay. It also will prevent you from angering the people who play on the same court after you. Nothing worse than seeing a court torn up by a newbie's hard court shoes.

[darkvard]

Clay is best for extreme spinners

[mikeler]

I'm a 5.0 who hits with a lot of spin, so I love clay. NoBadMojo is right though, just play your normal game. You won't be able to learn how to slide into your shots the first match. I did not feel comfortable sliding on clay until I played about a year on the stuff almost exclusively. Once you learn how to slide properly though, you may never want to play on a hard court again.

[autumn_leaf]

Once you learn how to slide properly though, you may never want to play on a hard court again.

or he could end up like Monfils sliding it up on hardcourts also (still scares me to watch him do that).

i also agree with the above posts. i wouldn't worry about the footwork the first time out, but i would be careful of topspin shots because the balls will bounce higher.

[Rickson]

You don't need to slide on clay. Just play like you would on hard, but don't come to the net as often.

[mikeler]

Agassi never learned to slide on clay and he won the French Open, so it is not necessary. It is extremely satisfying sliding into a shot while hitting a winner on the dead run though.

[Rickson]

What about if you play on unslideable clay?

[Djokovicfan4life]

What about if you play on unslideable clay?

Yeah, the only clay I've played on was pretty much unslideable. I think most people call that surface har-tru, or something like that. I'm not sure.

I wish I could find some red clay to play on some time. Grass would be even better. :)

[mikeler]

If the Har-Tru is properly taken care of, you should be able to slide. If not, you will end up with a torn meniscus in your left knee that will cause you pain for life. Of course, that is just me...