Playing on clay again

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Playing on clay again

by Lennart
(Amsterdam, the Netherlands)

Hi there,

At our local club we have clay courts. In our region there are a lot of clubs with artificial grass courts where I have to play a few times a year for competition and tournaments.

I struggled with the higher speed and the low bounce, so last winter I registered (with a friend of mine) to a club with artificial grass to get used to it. At the end of the winter I played really well, my single-handed backhand improved a lot and I could cope easily with defensive situations by defending with very good deep shots.

Two months ago the new season started and I started to play on our clay courts again (Accidentally, this season we play every away-game on clay, so sadly no artificial grass this season).

Now here it comes…
I can’t play anywhere as good as before on clay. I struggle a lot with my groundstrokes: I don’t make a lot of mistakes with my forehand, but I can barely get it past the service line (or it goes out). I looks like I play them with to much topspin.

With my backhand I make a lot of mistakes and when I’m in a defensive position, all my backhand-shots land on the service line, so my opponent can attack easily. So now most of the time I play slice-shots with my backhand, but they aren’t good either.

I assume it is caused by the higher bounce of the balls (it's more difficult with my single-handed backhand) and the lower speed of the balls, but maybe it is something mentally, I don’t know.

Any tips?

Thanks in advance,

Lennart

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Playing on clay again

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May 20, 2009
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Surface transition adjustment
by: Julian

Hi Lennart,

It just sounds like a common transition problem. On artificial grass, higher speed and lower bouncing balls required a technique adjustment on your part. Now you're having problems going back to clay where you were playing well before... So be patient, your mind picked up the nuances of grass and your body/strokes adapted to it, now it has to make the adjustment to clay again and the strokes will follow.

As far as wether it's a mental thing, -if- you are getting in your head regarding your game (on clay) because of the problems you're having, I'd suggest you drop it and forget about that. Remember you were playing well on that surface before... What's important now is the quality of your focus and concentrating on the clay ball characteristics. Just deal with the ball and make the appropriate adjustments.

Technical suggestions: Relax, don't muscle the ball. A slower higher bouncing ball may give you the impression you need to work harder at it resulting in tense muscles (shoulder, arm, grip) and a consequent loss of power. Also, try to flatten out your strokes a bit (less topspin) by adjusting your grip and/or making your racket trajectory more of a forward motion than an upward one.

There could be other factors playing a role that would help answering your question but without seeing you this is my best guess...

Hope it helps!

May 20, 2009
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Thanks
by: Lennart

Thanks for your reaction Julian!
I think the tense muscle-thing is happening with me. I think I am trying to hit the ball harder and with more topspin, because the ball comes slower/higher.
Mostly at the warmup before a match I don't have this problem (when I'm relaxed), so this could be related with the high tensed muscles in the match. I push to much I guess. I need to be more relaxed.

I think that is the problem, thanks. I'll try it next weekend and let you know if it helped.

Lennart

May 22, 2009
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Clay
by: GE

Points are long on clay so play relaxed and patient tennis.

Don't be a hero. Hit at 75/80% and keep the ball in play.

Hit high and deep balls with lots of topspin down the middle or to the backhand from the red zone/baseline.

Slice is very effective on clay, esp. angles where service line and sideline meet.

Return drop shots with drop shots.

Hit lots of spin serves, kickers if you have one, for first serves, wide to the backhand.

Bottom line: court positioning and patience are everything on clay. Do anything you can to get your opponent off the court.

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Playing on clay again

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Playing on clay again