On Clay...

Beautiful days in Cedar Rapids Monday and Tuesday. Hopefully Wednesday as well! Anyway Coach Kris and I were able to "borrow" a clay-court from one of the local Country Clubs for a couple hours each day. I readily admit to a bias in favor of clay-court tennis. I taught on an all clay(Har-Tru for those surface sticklers) court club for 5 years. Indoor and outdoor clay. But I am a believer in the benefits of learning tennis on clay. And here's some of the reasons why.

1) Clay is a slow surface. Power is useful, but ranks far behind consistency, depth, and spin in importance. Hence consistency, depth, and spin are emphasized and developed.

2) Points must be constructed. Meaning a player must learn to "build" a point, to maneuver an opponent around the court. Especially when faced with an opponent who possesses a very high shot-tolerance(They won't miss!).

3) Clay is slippery. Which means you can have fun sliding(Noah!). As I noticed today, the loose grained surface makes balance an emphasis. For the better part of 30 minutes my balance was off, my shot quality was awful, and my self-tolerance was.....pretty darn poor. Recognition and focus on improving my balance yielded improvements in all facets of my game.

4) Because Clay is slow and power is negated somewhat, points tend to last longer. Long points require better concentration and conditioning. Better conditioning means improved confidence which yields better play which then produces better results. All of which is good.

5) Clay is nice to my knees, hips and ankles. Self-explanatory!

 6) Clay is also a fine surface for my favorite and best shot........the Drop Shot!

Here's hoping Wednesday is another beautiful day so I can spend my lunch break back on Clay!