Is Indoor a Surface?

Is Indoor a Surface?

  • No, surfaces are the ground beneath your feet.

    Votes: 19 52.8%

  • Yes, it is a separate surface from hard, clay, and grass

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • Yes, but all indoor surfaces are one uniform suface

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, but indoor clay and indoor hard are different surfaces too

    Votes: 3 8.3%

  • Bring back carpet!

    Votes: 11 30.6%
  • Total voters
    36
triforce defender

triforce defender

Semi-Pro
Hey everyone, I am feeling better after last week's tragedy so I want to pose a question I was wondering during the indoor season. Do you consider "indoor" a surface? And if so, are indoor hard courts and indoor clay courts separate surfaces or just "indoor" of any type is a sole surface?

For me, I don't think indoor is a separate surface but rather a different set of conditions, or more specifically, a lack thereof weather conditions. For me surface is something below your feet, what you play "on" whereas indoor is something that's "above and around" you. In my opinion, indoor is akin to playing in the wind or at different elevations - the surface is the same but the conditions vary.
 
Indoors is not a surface.
Surface is what is used for the court - HC, clay, grass, ...

You can have HC indoors and outdoors, also Clay indoors and outdoors, ...
 
Chico said:
Indoors is not a surface.
Surface is what is used for the court - HC, clay, grass, ...

You can have HC indoors and outdoors, also Clay indoors and outdoors, ...
Click to expand...
Agreed. Surfaces by definition are just that - the ground on which players play on.

I do not think it makes sense to distinguish indoor HC from outdoor HC, when the only difference between the two are the atmosphere and/or extraneous factors other than the composition of the court itself. If we are to make such a distinction, we should also count indoor clay as another surface, and I think most of us would not be prepared to do that.

It would be great to see carpet come back though.
 
I don't think carpet is coming back and I think it is a good thing. It was a dangerous, injury causing surface, players complained about it and that is why it is gone.

I much prefer indoor HC over carpet.
 
Arbiter said:
Agreed. Surfaces by definition are just that - the ground on which players play on.

I do not think it makes sense to distinguish indoor HC from outdoor HC, when the only difference between the two are the atmosphere and/or extraneous factors other than the composition of the court itself. If we are to make such a distinction, we should also count indoor clay as another surface, and I think most of us would not be prepared to do that.

It would be great to see carpet come back though.
Click to expand...

Exactly, and if we're already distinguishing surfaces based on such extraneous factors, we might as well make up different surfaces for the weather conditions: Sunny, moderately windy, outdoor hardcourt, 25°C.
 
Yes

In technical English it isn't a surface. Indoor refers to having a roof overhead. However, for all intents and purposes it acts like a seperate surface. Why do people mention various surfaces - because they care about how soft it is underfoot? No, they care because it has an impact on the play. Hence, because indoor has such an impact on play the conditions of it are nearly as marked as the difference between outdoor hard and outdoor grass. For many year Federer was talked about as the best player 'indoors'. There was a reason for that.

If you want to understand if it plays differently than Outdoor hard say, have a look at Nadal's outdoor hard record and compare it with his indoor hard record. That will tell you everything you need to know.
 
I like carpet and sand. I've played on it both outdoors and indoors. The National Tennis Center in Queens has the same hard surface indoors and out (Deco Turf). NTC also has a bubble (indoor cout enclosure) with HarTru surface. HarTru is also found in Central Park...outdoors. So as long as one of these instances exists, this should settle this inane quiz.
 
It's a condition so not technically a surface. Since it can be controlled for (i.e. you can choose to have an indoor tournament but you can't choose to have a hot and humid tournament, that's up to mother nature) and there is a small section of the calendar dedicated to it, it's worth distinguishing. Look at Nadal and Federer H2H to see how the difference is significant.
 
No, I don't consider indoor a surface - obviously

I think a lot of TWers use "indoor" as shorthand for a type of surface (fast, low bouncing) when discussing previous generations because indoor tennis was indeed primarily played on indoor carpet and slick hard courts (with some exceptions like indoor clay Davis Cup matches and exhibitions), or when discussing current indoor courts that meet this criteria.

But, today, indoor tennis is often a bit slower and not as low bouncing (not uniformly, but usually compared to indoor tennis from years ago).

That said, "indoor", while not a surface, is still a a definitive "condition". Simply, the conditions indoors (humidity and temperature controls, no wind, artificial lighting) are different than outdoors - no matter the surface. And, those conditions can indeed affect play somewhat. Players feed off of those controlled conditions to varying degrees. Might not make a big difference to a certain player, but others really get a lot out of it.

When people do refer to "indoor" as a surface, again, I think they're just talking about fast, low-bouncing indoor courts. It's just shorthand.
 
Last edited:
The conditions are different enough that indoors is considered a different "surface" for ranking tournaments in Australia. So you can't run the same draw on outdoor and indoor courts, even if the laid surface is the same.
 
Mr.Lob said:
Never played on carpet. Why's it dangerous... trip on a ball of lint?
Click to expand...

Carpet is not dangerous at all. Sure, if wou were to dive you could get a pretty decent rug burn (been there, done that) but that would be down to you. Over the many years I played on carpet before our club changed to indoor HC, I never injured myself apart from an occasional rug burn.

As for playing on it, it plays fast, the bounce is low and if you hit a line it skids. Extremely fun surface to play on, and it's what made me a serve and volleyer.

I would like to see indoor grass though...
 
Rock Strongo said:
Carpet is not dangerous at all. Sure, if wou were to dive you could get a pretty decent rug burn (been there, done that) but that would be down to you. Over the many years I played on carpet before our club changed to indoor HC, I never injured myself apart from an occasional rug burn.

As for playing on it, it plays fast, the bounce is low and if you hit a line it skids. Extremely fun surface to play on, and it's what made me a serve and volleyer.

I would like to see indoor grass though...
Click to expand...

Astroturf :twisted:
 
It can play as big a difference as a change in surface, but no, it's not a surface. It's a condition that can be applied to any other surface.
 
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