What kind of court is this?

Artificial grass. This is a very common all weather surface in the Netherlands. It has a low bounce and players that are used to it, tend to play more slice as the ball skips and stays low. This one seems to have decent height though

sand is normal on it, I guess to allow sliding. But this is A LOT of sand.
 
An Omni Court is a synthetic grass surface that is popular for its years of low maintenance combined with its softness which is easy on the legs and body. The court is essentially a synthetic carpet or turf permanently placed over an asphalt surface. Sand is then applied over the surface.
 
That is called a smashcourt. The club where I play has two of them. Low bounces high pace almost grass like I think. But i prefer the Clay/gravel courts
 
I coached for many years at a camp that had a couple of these courts. They struck a nice balance between clay and hard by allowing a generous, but not fast bounce. Also, after a rain, they dried very quickly. The drawback was that the surface--sort of like artificial turf--would need to get re-stretched (not an easy task) because it would become kinked. Also, players tended to get a lot of sand in their shoes.
 
There used to be some Omni courts near me. If the courts were well maintained they were similar to grass. If there was too much sand on them it was like beach tennis. LOL
 
I remember hitting on courts like these with my wife when we were vacationing in Mexico. Given it was artificial grass I assumed they would play really fast, but they played slower than I expected.
 
I hate them. Most of the courts in Sydney are like these. Like the worst combination of grass and clay.
Most of them have too much sand. Low bounce, topspin doesn't have any advantage other than net clearance. Flat shots skid like slices, slices are even lower. They favour slices so much that many recreational players don't even care to learn proper backhand techniques but slices. The other problem is they are very slippery and hard to control your sliding. I can move like an ice skater if I want to.
 
I’m not a fan. I played on one in Waltham, MA. Seemed too slippery for good footing, much worse than clay.

And also played a league mixed doubles match on one in Centralia, WA. Bounce seemed too fast and skiddy.
 
I love these courts when properly maintained. There's several kinds of carpet they use too, and that makes a difference as well. I prefer the shorter blades to the shag style.
 
I love these courts too. Played them in Mexico and found some in the area by me.
Like that they dry out and can even play with drizzle. Not as dirty as clay.

I'm amazed more clubs don't use this in the states. Seems it would be easier on the body compared to all the hard courts we have. I also wonder if having the turf on top protects the asphault/concrete below from cracks?
 
Aah I play on these every week. It's good for lower levels as the ball bounces lower. The ball also loses a lot of steam off the bounce, doesn't feel very satisfying hitting pace or spin. So it's kinda frustrating if you're the type of player that gets a kick from hitting powerful shots. However it seems that strings last much longer and your shoes as well.
 
travlerajm said:
I’m not a fan. I played on one in Waltham, MA. Seemed too slippery for good footing, much worse than clay.

And also played a league mixed doubles match on one in Centralia, WA. Bounce seemed too fast and skiddy.
Click to expand...
It sounds like you wore hard court or all court shoes on the surface? You need to use either clay court or omni court shoes. I mainly use clay court shoes as they slide more predictably than omni shoes for me. Still, I do have a pair of omni's I wear in winter as they grip better on the cold, damp surface.

These are our standard courts here in the UK and Ireland. We mainly refer to it as synthetic grass or carpet(not to be confused with indoor carpet, which is a much shorter pile). Though we also have clay and hard courts, most of the courts in the open would be of this sort as they are very low maintenance, and they dry very rapidly. In fact, you can play on them in a light rain. Hell, I have played on them in a heavy rain.

Very, very easy on the body. But also, due to it's power absorption, it can drain power away from heavy top spin serves or ground strokes.
Flat serves and flat strokes are lethal on this surface.

Sand gets everywhere, tho. So wear high socks, and remove your shoes after wards, or use the court side scrapers.
If there is a small amount of sand, your strings and balls can last a good while. If there is a lot of sand, or it is coarse, your strings can lock up fast.

The bounce is dependant upon how fresh or worn the court is, how much and what sort of sand is used, how well installed it is/how you go about sanding it, and of course the weather. We sand it in several passes and use a tractor. It compacts the sand in the pile, and gives a more consistent bounce.

Oh, that's another thing, the bounce is not as consistent as hard court, but not as random as clay. you WILL swing and miss or frame on occasion due to odd bounces.

In any case, it will always be faster than hard and clay. Low bounce by comparison, and flat shots as well as slice can skid rather well even when freshly sanded.
We try and use a rather coarse sand, and not too much of it. It is enough to slide on and give a halfway decent bounce, but definitely not like a hard court.
Still, in summer with fresh sand, the bounce can be quite good, and my kickers actually have an effect. Outside of summer, you want to slice your second serves or try or hit a hard top spin to the corner. I grew up on hard courts, and played 100% on hard in college. So, it can be a frustrating surface for my style of swing.

So volleying, serving, slicing, and low rally counts. It is one of the few reasons why, even at my age, I am still competitive on the surface.

Here are about half of our courts:

172824780.x1EHmlTH.jpg
 
Last edited:
PaddyDutch said:
Artificial grass. This is a very common all weather surface in the Netherlands. It has a low bounce and players that are used to it, tend to play more slice as the ball skips and stays low. This one seems to have decent height though

sand is normal on it, I guess to allow sliding. But this is A LOT of sand.
Click to expand...

Exactly, due to the amount of sand, and likely new balls and warm conditions, the bounce is decent. Still, we can see the court is not particularly slow.
You can see by the launch angle that the man in the back court is hitting with decent top spin, so it is taking a bit of a hop. Still, not drastic like it would be on clay or HC.
Whereas the woman is hitting fairly flat, and the ball is barely bouncing to the man's waist. She is a good striker, though. I would like her on my mixed doubles team.

Which reminds me, one of the advantages to these courts is they are loud to run around on, even more so than clay. Squeaking hard courts aside. Anywho, so carpeted and sanded courts have an unexpected benefit in that you have a good idea where your doubles partner or opponent is without having to look at them.
 
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Robert F said:
I love these courts too. Played them in Mexico and found some in the area by me.
Like that they dry out and can even play with drizzle. Not as dirty as clay.

I'm amazed more clubs don't use this in the states. Seems it would be easier on the body compared to all the hard courts we have. I also wonder if having the turf on top protects the asphault/concrete below from cracks?
Click to expand...
That's the thing - with a thick pile of synthetic turf on top - cracks don't really matter anymore unless they get completely out of hand.
 
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