Would you pick a faster or slower hard court to play on?

[socallefty]

Hard courts are much slower when they are newly resurfaced as they are very gritty and then as they get older, they become smoother and faster over time. Often we have a situation in our club where some of the courts have been resurfaced recently while others were resurfaced one or two years ago. So you can literally choose the surface speed to play on by booking the appropriate court with the newest courts being the slowest.

If you had the choice, would you pick faster or slower courts to play on? I generally pick faster courts as I have a serve-dependent game for my level and also like hitting winners to have short points. In doubles, faster courts also favor aggressive net players.

I feel that thinking about this might shed light on a player’s style of play and what you consider your strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Youngheart]

I prefer to develop a "mini game plan" within each point as it goes along.
It's harder to do that on an extra fast court where the balls are zipping by,
and then the only thing to do is to react quickly. Not as fun as a slower court.
------ So Be It ⚜️ ------

 

[Dragy]

I feel the slow court much better. It’s still usually fast enough, it has predictable bounces, etc.

I can actually play well on faster lower bounce courts, not so much on faster high bouncing courts. But I kind of lose control of what’s going on, I just have to stick with reactive game more than not, when it’s fast. And win points kind of on “some” shot rather than through well constructed point.

However, through years I’ve got much more tolerant to varying conditions and can adapt. Still, mid-paced high bounce hard courts are my favorite, with red clay being very close (just pleasure to play, not in terms of winning more).

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

I rely on my serve, so faster court for me.

 

[forzamr_b]

Depends on my opponent ☺️ But generally it should be faster unless my opponent hits harder or has a bigger serve.

 

[johnmccabe]

Like fast courts and short points in general.

 

[Thiemster]

Slow courts cause it allows me to load properly on more shots

 

[Purestriker]

Hard courts are much slower when they are newly resurfaced as they are very gritty and then as they get older, they become smoother and faster over time. Often we have a situation in our club where some of the courts have been resurfaced recently while others were resurfaced one or two years ago. So you can literally choose the surface speed to play on by booking the appropriate court with the newest courts being the slowest.

If you had the choice, would you pick faster or slower courts to play on? I generally pick faster courts as I have a serve-dependent game for my level and also like hitting winners to have short points. In doubles, faster courts also favor aggressive net players.

I feel that thinking about this might shed light on a player’s style of play and what you consider your strengths and weaknesses.

I prefer the faster court in doubles and the slower court if I am playing singles. Our indoor courts have not been resurfaced in 8 plus years and the speed of the court is a significant advantage for us against the majority of our opponents. The outdoor courts were resurfaced last year with a layering system, they are softer (which is surprising), slower and the bounce is much higher.

 

[nyta2]

depends on opponent
* fast court if: fitter than me, prefers high bouncing balls (eg. western gripper), slower serve, etc...
* slower court if: not good shape, prefer lower bouncing balls (eg. easter grip), fast serve, etc...
i think i'm decent at adjusting to styles (and playing as different styles...) but the con is i'm a master of none

 

[socallefty]

depends on opponent
* fast court if: fitter than me, prefers high bouncing balls (eg. western gripper), slower serve, etc...
* slower court if: not good shape, prefer lower bouncing balls (eg. easter grip), fast serve, etc...
i think i'm decent at adjusting to styles (and playing as different styles...) but the con is i'm a master of none

So you would pick only based on your opponent’s weakness. But what would you pick if you are playing an unknown new opponent? What are your strengths or preferred point patterns that you would want to maximize?

 

[Rosstour]

I like faster generally, and when you're playing indoors you get that precision to strike it how you see it.

Everything is slow outdoors, even an old court. So the opportunities to play on truly fast courts are very limited

 

[nyta2]

So you would pick only based on your opponent’s weakness. But what would you pick if you are playing an unknown new opponent? What are your strengths or preferred point patterns that you would want to maximize?

since i'm a little fella with not much power (compared to the typical 5'10"+ opponent i seem to play), i'll tend to favor slower courts to blunt their serve & groundies, and grind them down...
but age/injuries/etc... has me appreciating faster courts (especially to help my relatively weakish serve) to help setup quicker points..

 

[TennisCJC]

Most of the hard courts are fast in my area. Public city courts in parks are resurfaced about every 8 to 10. Even public courts at popular tennis facilities are only resurfaced every 5 years or so. Private neighborhoods rarely resurface less than 5 years. Maybe the expensive private country clubs resurface every 2 or 3 years but the average hard court other than the expensive country clubs probably is resurfaced every 5 years or longer. After about 3 years, most hard courts are slick with fast low bounce. I like hard courts for the first couple of years where the grit is rough enough to slow the ball a bit and the ball bounces a bit higher but not a fan of the fast sliding hard courts. I bet the average hard court in Atlanta is faster than Wimbledon.

 

[socallefty]

Most of the hard courts are fast in my area. Public city courts in parks are resurfaced about every 8 to 10. Even public courts at popular tennis facilities are only resurfaced every 5 years or so. Private neighborhoods rarely resurface less than 5 years. Maybe the expensive private country clubs resurface every 2 or 3 years but the average hard court other than the expensive country clubs probably is resurfaced every 5 years or longer. After about 3 years, most hard courts are slick with fast low bounce. I like hard courts for the first couple of years where the grit is rough enough to slow the ball a bit and the ball bounces a bit higher but not a fan of the fast sliding hard courts. I bet the average hard court in Atlanta is faster than Wimbledon.

Wow, if you are used to playing on a 8-10 year old public court surface and they decide to resurface it, it will be like night and day. At my club, we complain if the surface on any of the courts hasn’t been resurfaced in a couple of years.

I wonder if that is part of why junkballers/slicers are so feared on this forum - they must be more difficult to play on fast, skidding courts.

 

[optic yellow]

Wow, if you are used to playing on a 8-10 year old public court surface and they decide to resurface it, it will be like night and day. At my club, we complain if the surface on any of the courts hasn’t been resurfaced in a couple of years.

I wonder if that is part of why junkballers/slicers are so feared on this forum - they must be more difficult to play on fast, skidding courts.

Your club probably has a higher and heavier volume of usage than the average public court.

 

[Dragy]

I wonder if that is part of why junkballers/slicers are so feared on this forum - they must be more difficult to play on fast, skidding courts.

Yeah, when the junk doesn’t sit up, it becomes annoying and rightfully so…

That’s the thing with grass as well, particularly with “old” grass tournaments as they were: good for big servers — absolutely; for big hitters — not so much, much more for those who could block and slice and chip any ball off any odd bounce.

That’s why some big hitters really shine on clay, not just grinders: more chances to set up big and unleash big power. Remember Ostapenko, she won French Open, not some hard-court big title.

 

[Jono123]

I play on Tiger Turf mainly which is a great surface and slightly between the two.

 

[10sbeast888]

cannot overpower and usually try to attack the others' stroke production with moonballs and slices, I like more 'volatile' conditions - faster court, low humidity, high temperature.

 

[MyFearHand]

I like faster generally, and when you're playing indoors you get that precision to strike it how you see it.

Everything is slow outdoors, even an old court. So the opportunities to play on truly fast courts are very limited

Go try out Gunston park if you want a fast outdoor court

 

[TennisCJC]

Your club probably has a higher and heavier volume of usage than the average public court.

In my city, the public courts in city parks and at public tennis facilities are heavily used. Seniors in the mornings, kids in the early afternoons and younger adults in the evenings with leagues on the weekends. And now, we the pleasure of sharing many hard courts with pickle ballers too. The courts are typically very slick and have not been resurfaced in 5 years or more before they are resurfaced. It's like playing on old fast grass but with a slightly truer bounce.

 

[ChaelAZ]

No preference really. Just tune prep and set-up for how fast the ball comes in. I do play slower HC's more often though, so fast/slick HC's take a little more to get back used to them.

 

[MaxTennis]

I like faster courts because it suits my style more

 

[Roforot]

I don't like indoors play which typically is where the fast courts are including those w/ carpet.

If you're talking about hard courts, there are a few that are close to the beach and seem to be sandy and slow. THey aren't my favorite b/c everything gets dirty.
I would rather play a real clay court than a dirty hard court.

 

[tlm]

Much prefer slower courts. During winter playing indoors on fast hard courts is my least favorite.