Sliding on Hard Courts?

Do you think that players like Monfils, Jankovic, Nadal, Blake, and others that slide with ease on hard courts are using shoes that have possibly a harder rubber sole to help them slide to prevent injury? I have tried it and all I do is stick and topple. Either that or the courts that the pros play on have a little loose grit on the court to help them slide to prevent injury. let me know if you know anything or can dispute my question.
 

kashgotmoney

Professional
Do you think that players like Monfils, Jankovic, Nadal, Blake, and others that slide with ease on hard courts are using shoes that have possibly a harder rubber sole to help them slide to prevent injury? I have tried it and all I do is stick and topple. Either that or the courts that the pros play on have a little loose grit on the court to help them slide to prevent injury. let me know if you know anything or can dispute my question.
i do it all the time. you cant just slide for fun. if you have to slide, that means the ball is hard to get to and you are going with full momentum. therefore all this momentum will cause a good slide if you try to slide.
 
i do it all the time. you cant just slide for fun. if you have to slide, that means the ball is hard to get to and you are going with full momentum. therefore all this momentum will cause a good slide if you try to slide.

Ok, maybe the first thing i need to do is get below 200lbs. That's probably why my fat ass can't slide! But the way Monfils does it, it just makes me sick:)
 

AlphaCDjkr

Rookie
I weigh 131 lbs, using Barricade V's a month old, and I slide a lot.

There is a lot of dust/sand wedged in the grooves of the outsole, so I really think that contributes to the slide...
 

notujoo

Rookie
I slide all the time with barricade..III... but my shoes got worn out alot.... because of sliding....I weigh 130lbs 6 feet tall.
 

a-naik.1

Professional
i slid pretty well with my cages and barricades on hard courts...but thats because the tread was a bit down.
 

pabletion

Hall of Fame
I slide a lot without trying to slide... its all about speed and tryin to change directions rapidly. Its not that I want to slide, but I've done it with all kinds of shoes.
Maybe its not such a good idea to keep on trying for the fun of it, you might get hurt! Specially if youre not in shape... remember, knees, ankles, etc....?
 

The_Question

Hall of Fame
I don't know...I slide on HC all the time. Maybe it's my shoes are totally outdated compared to modern materials...
 

babolat15

Hall of Fame
i think some people mix up truly sliding and slipping...sometimes if you are running hard your last step might slip a little...it is completely different to be attempting to slide. it is very dangerous, u really have to commit to it once you start your "slide"
 

Frankauc

Professional
i do this all the time. Im 5ft10, 155lbs. You have to run really fast to be able to do that, like when chasing a ball difficult to get. I do this with any tennis shoes on any surface. It happens naturally, i never fell or hurt myself doing this.
 
I can slide on clay easliy. But since I've only played doubles on clay the only direction is forward sliding towards the net to retrieve short balls.
 

pabletion

Hall of Fame
i think some people mix up truly sliding and slipping...sometimes if you are running hard your last step might slip a little...it is completely different to be attempting to slide. it is very dangerous, u really have to commit to it once you start your "slide"

good point. True clay sliding is completely intentional, and as I understand, you slide before you hit; Whenever I "slide" on hard courts its becase Im trying to stop and start changing directions; so its not truly a clay fashion slide.
 

benne

Semi-Pro
I can slide on clay easliy. But since I've only played doubles on clay the only direction is forward sliding towards the net to retrieve short balls.

I usually only slide on HC for balls like this, not only towards the net but corner to corner as well. Any "good get" ball. You have to realize that at the pro level what Monfils playing at most the balls he slides on are balls he has to sprint to like we do, they make it look easy though. They're moving fast corner to corner, may not be their 100% speed tho.
 
I don't think they need anything special on the shoes or the courts. It's a little harder to slide on brand new shoes, for me anyways, but once I've played in them for a couple of hours I can start to slide with relative ease. So I don't think the pros need anything special. Like some have already commented, I also think it's probably not a good idea to try to learn to slide on hard courts. If it doesn't come naturally to you, maybe it's just not your style of play.
 

nn

Hall of Fame
yeah me too.. even I am 170lb not fatty compare to height. According to BMK index I should be around 160lb so extra 10lb. but point is I can't slide even I run like rabbit (my opponent keep saying). I want to learn that art one day and should come naturally not forcing it.
 

1st Seed

Professional
I slide also 5'10" 180lbs.Very dangerous though.God help our buddy monfils when he turns an ankle.What kills me is when you slide so hard and you fall on your butt.I eat shoes for breakfast so when you slipping instead of sliding grap some new kicks.Would never slide without my braces on ,suicide
When you guys get a chance check some rollover slides on the tube.Golovin and Berdych are some nasty one's.
 

mcutilize

Professional
sliding is easy on hard courts i basically followed the same technique i used on clay and copied how to slide like monfils on the run, this is important whenever u slide use the foot your not dragging to slow u down and do a heel then the rest of the foot step cause if u do toe heel u'll break ur ankles
 

babolat15

Hall of Fame
i would only do it when ur going so fast u can make a relatively direct stop...u hardly ever see federer slide on hard...u only see nadal slide when he is on the dead run...djokovic does it all the time but his flexibility is ridiculous
 
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