Clay is an emblematic surface in world tennis, inseparable from one of the four Grand Slam tournaments: Roland-Garros. Renowned for its playing comfort and technical demands, it requires rigorous construction to guarantee optimum performance.
At the Mouratoglou Academy, an international benchmark for tennis, each court is designed to reproduce the standards of excellence of the professional circuit. The construction and maintenance of the surfaces are designed to offer players the same sensations as on the world’s greatest sites.
First of all, there are different types of clay courts.
Depending on their nature and composition, they offer slightly different playing sensations.
The choice between these surfaces depends mainly on the climate, the level of maintenance required and the style of play desired.
Whether natural or synthetic, each type of court retains the very essence of this legendary surface: encouraging long rallies, sliding and tactics.
Natural clay is the most traditional and the most emblematic.
Used at major tournaments such as Roland-Garros. It is made up of several natural layers (pebbles, limestone, clinker, crushed brick).
Main characteristics:
Synthetic clay is a modern alternative.
It imitates the look and feel of traditional clay, but requires less maintenance. It generally consists of a special carpet covered with crushed brick granules.
Main characteristics:
Clay is not always ochre!
Depending on the composition and use of the court, it can also be :
Each colour can have a slight effect on ball speed and glide.
Clay is a living surface: it constantly interacts with humidity, temperature and the local atmosphere.
To preserve its unique qualities, the construction of a court follows several essential stages and is adjusted according to the environment.
Each facility is unique: it must adapt to the climatic conditions of the region where it is installed.
Whether under a Mediterranean sun or in a more humid climate, the composition of the layers may vary slightly to ensure constant bounce, good stability and optimum playing comfort.
For example, the traditional structure used at Roland-Garros will be different from that at the Mouratoglou Academy, but in both cases the aim is the same: to provide a demanding and uniform playing sensation.
At the Mouratoglou Academy, the natural clay courts are specifically adapted to the french riviera climate:
These adjustments guarantee players a constant bounce, natural glide and ideal playing conditions all year round.
The Mouratoglou Academy has 33 tennis courts, several of which are specifically dedicated to clay, divided into three complementary categories:
Each court is built with a mixture of compacted pebbles covered with a thin layer of granite soil, guaranteeing year-round play, whatever the weather conditions.
This high quality construction attracts many professional players every year, who come to prepare for their clay-court season in optimum conditions.
Not all clay installations are created equal. A well-designed floor :
Conversely, poor construction or irregular maintenance can make the surface impracticable, with random bounces and rapid wear.
The difference between a traditional clay court and a synthetic clay court lies in the structure: the synthetic one rests on a carpet covered with compacted earth, making it faster and less sensitive to bad weather.
Clay is a school of patience, tactics and endurance.
At the Mouratoglou Academy, everything is designed to help players progress:
It is this demand for quality that attracts so many players from the ATP and WTA circuits every year, who come to prepare for their season in professional conditions.
The cost of building a clay tennis court generally varies between €30,000 and €70,000, depending on the materials used, the quality of the drainage and the complexity of the project.
Regular maintenance is also essential to maintain the court’s performance over the long term.
The traditional colour of clay is ochre, obtained by applying a thin layer of crushed brick to the surface.
However, there are other colours: green (Har-Tru), blue or grey, used on certain tournaments or specific courts.
The term “clay” comes from the process of compacting the surface during manufacture.
Historically, the clay used for the first courts was beaten by hand to flatten and stabilise it, hence the name.
Even today, this heritage lives on in the naming of crushed brick surfaces.
La terre battue est une surface de jeu “lente”, réputée pour son rebond haut qui favorise les longs échanges et met en valeur la tactique et l’endurance physique. Contrairement aux surfaces dures synthétiques, elle est composée de matériaux naturels. C’est la surface emblématique de tournois comme Roland-Garros, où elle permet aux joueurs de développer un style de jeu basé sur la défense, le lift et les glissades contrôlées.
La construction d’un court en terre battue est un savoir-faire complexe qui implique la superposition de plusieurs couches distinctes pour assurer la stabilité, le drainage et la qualité de jeu :
La couleur la plus célèbre est le rouge-ocre emblématique de Roland-Garros. Cette teinte provient de la brique pilée utilisée en Europe. Cependant, il existe d’autres types de terre battue, notamment la terre battue verte (souvent appelée “Har-Tru” aux États-Unis). Cette dernière est composée de basalte vert métamorphique broyé et est légèrement plus rapide que la terre battue rouge.
Les deux surfaces sont aux antipodes l’une de l’autre, ce qui explique pourquoi les joueurs ont souvent des résultats très différents sur chacune :
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