Why don't we have red clay in the U.S?
- Thread starter ESP#1
- Start date
fin-tennis(h)
Rookie
Why don't we have anything else than red clay outdoors in Europe?
ESP#1
Professional
Playing on clay is great for your tennis, teaches you patients and makes you more consistant, you should make an effort to try it sometime,
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
That is simply not true. France for example has a lot of hard courts too.
beckham
Semi-Pro
Yeah, I would love to try it out, but there aren't any clay courts where I live. I did go on vacation to santa cruz this past summer. we went to a tennis facility there, and they had a clay court, but it was under reconstruction, so we couldn't play on it.
ESP#1
Professional
Spain has hard courts, but i guess clay is more abundant especially at clubs
but really does anyone know why we don,t have red clay?
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fin-tennis(h)
Rookie
I know. That was half a joke half true. Here in Finland we have red clay courts at almost every club but good quality hard court outdoors hardly anywhere.
Leublu tennis
Legend
There is a Miscellaneous section and it has a subsection called Rants and Raves. Maybe that would be more appropriate since this one is supposed to deal with players, not surface or equipment. But everyone disregards that and talks about surface all the time, so I guess you are in the right place after all.
Leublu tennis
Legend
I live in the Bay Area and have never seen clay courts anywhere. One reason may be that clay courts require maintenance and hard courts don't. Oh, they will replace a net once every 10 years but not much more. For clay courts, its almost daily care, I think. But being a Californian what do I know about clay?
Leublu tennis
Legend
I love playing on clay and did when I went to school in Boston. Its really an entirely different game and, since I like to run balls down, this sure suited me fine.
veroniquem
Bionic Poster
That's true, most hard courts are indoor.
beckham
Semi-Pro
I played in a tennis facility in Santa Cruz, and they had a clay court, but it was under reconstruction, so I wasn't able to play on it. Thats the only one I have seen in California. I used to live in Hayward, but now live near Stockton.
Cyan
Hall of Fame
Clay is a four letter word to American tennis!
Yeah! :twisted:
edmondsm
Legend
Because it has to be raked?
S H O W S T O P P E R !
Hall of Fame
I think it's because clay is expensive to set up and maintain and it ruins your shoes.
EDIT: Oh good, no one made a joke about #2. REMOVED
EDIT: Oh good, no one made a joke about #2. REMOVED
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edberg505
Legend
You've got that right. I went there thinking I was gonna play on some red clay and everywhere I looked there were hardcourts. I did get to play on some grass in Great Britain though.
sheq
Professional
ı am living in Istanbul and in here you cant find a clay court..thats a shame...but in tourneys as a player you could have a chance to experince playing on clay and thankfully ı used my chance In our country all the clay courts stands on the seaside cities wihch are very popular for tourists..
Maybe in the world its like that too,,look at Monte carlo or Rome it seems they should be on a warm region
In our country all the clay courts stands on the seaside cities wihch are very popular for tourists..Maybe in the world its like that too,,look at Monte carlo or Rome it seems they should be on a warm region
ı am living in Istanbul and in here you cant find a clay court..thats a shame...but in tourneys as a player you could have a chance to experince playing on clay and thankfully ı used my chance
Maybe in the world its like that too,,look at Monte carlo or Rome it seems they should be on a warm region
It doesn't necessarily(Spelling) need to be in a warm region. Most of Germany,Austria and Switzerland is only clay(except indoors).
One thing i know is, that you cannot have clay courts in Windy regions because all the clay will get blown away(Well thats the reason i was told why South Africa doesn't have any clay). And you need to put a lot of work into keep a clay court in a good condition
Maybe true in NY, but everywhere else in the USA 90% of the hard courts are outdoors.
DNShade
Hall of Fame
There are red clay courts around. Just have to look. Even red clay courts in SoCal if you look. Sherwood Country CLub near Westlake has red clay and grass:
There is even a red clay court right in the TW area - Shell Beach, CA overlooking the ocean (although the last time I was there it looked like they had added in some grey clay into the red....)
There are red clay in Ventura CA and other areas. Lots of green/grey all over CA too.
There is even a red clay court right in the TW area - Shell Beach, CA overlooking the ocean (although the last time I was there it looked like they had added in some grey clay into the red....)
There are red clay in Ventura CA and other areas. Lots of green/grey all over CA too.
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Shoes actually last a lot longer on clay. They just look a lot dirtier.
bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
There are a few clubs/resorts that have red clay. I can't tell you which ones off the top of my head, but I know I've seen them in Tennis Magazine travel section.
Leublu tennis
Legend
Beautiful resort. I'd go there just for the courts.There are red clay courts around. Just have to look. Even red clay courts in SoCal if you look. Sherwood Country CLub near Westlake has red clay and grass:
There is even a red clay court right in the TW area - Shell Beach, CA overlooking the ocean (although the last time I was there it looked like they had added in some grey clay into the red....)
There are red clay in Ventura CA and other areas. Lots of green/grey all over CA too.
Leublu tennis
Legend
I also live in the Bay Area and, even at private clubs, its all hard courts.
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
There are Red Cay Tennis Courts in the U.S. you just have to know where to look.
http://www.worcestertennisclub.net/html/gallery.htm
http://www.clayfricktennis.org/
http://www.rcta.info/
http://www.armonktennis.com/
http://www.coralsprings.org/cstennis.org/tenniscenter.cfm
http://www.oliversredclaytennis.com/index.htm
http://www.tennisport.com/
http://longislandtennisclubs.com/Woodbury.htm
http://www.wvtennis.com/aboutus.html
http://www.suttoneasttennis.com/facilities.php
http://www.armonktennis.com/
http://www.mountwashingtonresort.com/activities/tennis/overview
http://www.cranmorefitness.com/info/tennis_facilities.asp
http://longislandtennisclubs.com/Cold_Spring_Valley.htm
http://www.tuckerhill.com/vermont-bed-and-breakfast/outdoor-pool-tennis
http://www.clay-courts.com/
http://oakmonttennis.com/
Wire Mill Racquet Club
http://leontennis.net/rentals.html
http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/photo-summerville-south-carolina-inns-woodlands_inn.html
http://www.sportimetfm.com/facilities2.ihtml?fid=6
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SteveI
Legend
Why would it ruin your shoes? Hard courts ruin your shoes.
Blade0324
Hall of Fame
I'm in Colorado and while most courts are hard we also have a good amount of green clay around and I am fortunate to have a club only 3 miles from my house that has 2 red clay courts. No one ever plays on them at that club either. I'm not a member so I can't go anytime I wany but I take lessons from their pro and we always hit on the clay at my request. There is def. a good bit more maint. on those so I suspect that has a lot to do with the lack of clay.
penang
Rookie
I like Red Clay a lot. After a game I look like I did a great workout. Dirt on shoes, socks and I feel good. I have to learn to dive in the future but green is like running on sands. I think both really help improve my game where I learn to be more patience. And shoes last longer than playing on Hard Courts.
ESP#1
Professional
Some of the ritzy country clubs here in the East Bay area used to have red clay courts years ago, but I hear that their members complained about their white clothes and shoes getting stained, so they replaced em all with hardcourts, instead of simply switching to Har-Tru!
Oh well. A big reason I hope to retire to Hilton Head, S.C. in the future is because of all the (Har-Tru) clay courts there, which will be easy on my knees, ankles and feet.
Oh well. A big reason I hope to retire to Hilton Head, S.C. in the future is because of all the (Har-Tru) clay courts there, which will be easy on my knees, ankles and feet.
Hankenstein
Hall of Fame
Same here in Sweden. 95 % of the clubs (or maybe more..) use clay as outdoor surface. This is simply because it´s so dmna expensive to lay (?) an hardcourt. I have heard it´s 3 times the cost to do a hardcourt instead of a claycourt here in Sweden.
naylor
Semi-Pro
Interesting - possibly something to do with needing to avoid it cracking in winter if the undersoil freezes (or to stop it from freezing, for the same reason)?
Anyhow, clay court maintenance is manual work and quite frequent, you have to sweep it after every hour's session, and you also have to water it regularly (as in several times each day) to stop the clay from drying up and becoming fine dust/sand (on which you get no traction). If local labour is cheap and plentiful, then it's a viable proposition - and most large clubs in places like Spain and Portugal (and I daresay France and most of Europe) are outside towns rather than in the town centre, so there are plenty of retired farmers that do the maintenance to supplement their pensions.
The flip side of high maintenance is the high level of tennis achieved by players who were brought up on clay. Technique, consistency, placement, patience, shots.
mary fierce
Banned
Who needs red clay? I play almost exclusively on Har-Tru and find no meaningful difference between it and red clay, except that the Har-Tru doesn't ruin your clothes.
NandoMania
Rookie
Because red clay is a dirty mess.
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