Is It Better To Grow Up Playing On Clay Courts?

Ah, clay court tennis!

There's nothing like it -- the incredible passing shots from deep in the court, the great drop shots, the huge topspin groundies. All of it together makes for the most exciting and elegant tennis. The French Open is definitely my favourite tournament of the year.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to play in Chile on beautiful, slow, red clay courts.

What impressed me the most was the beautiful, flowing strokes of some of the young kids. I realized then that growing up on clay leads to the development of heavy top spin strokes, a good kick serve, and usually a good drop shot as well.

Of course, hard court players often have a flatter first serve, better approach shots, especially the backhand slice, and far better volleys. It's an effective game but it lacks the elegance of clay court tennis played on the slowest red clay like in Paris at the French Open.

So, I pose the following question. If you were the director of a national Tennis association in charge of developing the next generation of players, would you choose to train them on clay courts or hard courts? Let's assume that both are available.

For myself, I'd rather see the kids develop on clay with solid groundies, good tactics, good patience, and great footwork.

Later, I'd work with the most promising to develop a big first serve and some volleys.

What about you? Clay court tennis or hard courts?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Clay Courts or Hard Courts, Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

Technorati Tags Clay court tennis
Technorati Tags French Open