Editing Tennis court (section)

===Clay courts===
{{Main|Clay court}}
[[File:ND DN 2006FO.jpg|thumbnail|The [[French Open]] is played on clay courts.]]
Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick.<ref name="ITF Surfaces"/> The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament still played on clay; the courts there are made from crushed red brick (known commonly as "European clay", or ''terre battue'' in France).<ref>{{cite web |title=L’histoire de la terre battue |url=https://terrebattue.org/histoire-de-la-terre-battue/ |website=terrebattue.org |access-date=2 February 2025 |language=French}}</ref> 

[[File:4 types of clay tennis court.jpg|right|thumb|Clay courts can come in many colors. Clockwise from top-left: red, green ([[Clay court#Green clay|HarTru]]), blue, gray]]
Clay courts slow down the ball and produce a high bounce in comparison to grass or hard courts, taking away many of the advantages of big serves.<ref name="ITF Surfaces"/> For this reason, the clay court heavily favors baseline players, as it is hard for attacking [[serve-and-volley]] players to dominate on the surface. Clay courts are cheaper to construct than other types of tennis courts, but a clay surface costs more to maintain. Clay courts need to be rolled to preserve flatness. The clay's water content must be balanced; green clay courts (see below) are generally required to be sloped to allow water run-off.

Clay courts are more common in Europe and Latin America than in North America. The clay courts that do exist in the United States tend to be made of [[Clay court#Green clay|green clay]], which consists of crushed basalt; they are usually known by their brand name, HarTru. A "maroon" form of clay, advertized as "American red clay", is also used at the [[U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships]] in Houston, Texas. Clay courts with a top dressing of burnt shale – which makes the surface grittier and allows for faster play – can be found in Britain, especially in northern England and Scotland (where they are known as "blaes" courts). More esoteric clay-like surfaces, meanwhile, still exist in rural Australia ('antbed' courts, made out of compacted termite mounds and/or loam), India (animal dung) and the Philippines (crushed sea-shells).<ref>{{cite web |author1=Michael Sexton |title=Almanac Tennis: Ant bed nation – why Australian tennis owes the termite |url=https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-tennis-ant-bed-nation-why-australian-tennis-owes-the-termite/ |website=The Footy Almanac |access-date=25 October 2024 |date=9 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Shell Tennis Courts |url=https://manilasouthwoods.com/index.php/facilities/30-sports-club/79-shell-tennis-courts |website=The Manila Southwoods Golf and Country Club |access-date=2 February 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Randy |title=Grass? Ant Bed? Dung? What Kind of Tennis Court Will John, Patrick McEnroe Play On In Tanzania? |url=https://worldtennismagazine.com/grass-ant-bed-dung-what-kind-of-tennis-court-will-john-patrick-mcenroe-play-on-in-tanzania/21873 |website=World Tennis |access-date=2 February 2025 |date=2 April 2023}}</ref>

Historically for the [[Grand Slam (tennis)|Grand Slams]] clay courts have been used at the [[French Open]] since 1891 and the [[US Open (tennis)|US Open]] from 1975 to 1977 (on green clay).