Get an Advantage by Understanding the Tennis Court

The length is 78 feet (23.77 m), and the width measures 27 feet (8.23 m) for singles matches and 36 (10.97 m) for doubles matches.  It is lille compared to a football field that takes up a mammoth 360 feet (109.73 m) for its length and 160 feet (48.77 m) for its width. 

A small area of clear, vacant space is allotted outside the court for reaching stray and overrun balls.  A net is extended across the full width of the court, and it corresponds with the baselines, perfectly parallel to them.  The baselines are the lines at the end of each side of the court that mark the court's boundaries.  The tennis net is composed of several, distinct parts, and they are the body, headband (top binding), cable, side bindings (tapes), bottom bindings (tapes), dowels, tie strings, and lacing twine. 

Wood, nickel, brass, fiberglass, steel, vinyl, and other synthetics are component materials of a tennis net.  The net cuts the court into two equal ends, and it measures 3 feet 6 inches (1.07 m) high at the posts, and 3 feet (914 mm) high in the very center.  The net is grid-like because of the formation of squares measuring 1 3/4 inches; they stack neatly in all directions, and it's an illusion created by the consecutive intersection of vertical and horizontal strands of synthetic cable.

There are four types of tennis courts and each produces distinct advantages, conditional on the materials used in the construction of the tennis court.  They are generally divided into clay courts, hard courts, indoor courts, and grass courts.  Each is interesting, and each merits further attention by casual tennis player and skilled professional alike.

Clay tennis courts are run-of-the-mill in Europe and South America, more so than the United States.  Clay courts are fashioned of either crushed shale, stone or brick, and are either red or green.  Balls bounce, rebound, and spring relatively high and with a greater lag time.  Balls ascend more slowly.  Competing on clay courts commonly necessitates the capacity to slide into the ball during the stroke; counter to that would be running and stopping like on a hard or grass court.  Many players find this type of movement difficult, and a clay court clearly favors more defensive baseliners, comfortable with the full western grip for greater topspin.  Many players pursue this common tennis strategy.  The French Open has clay courts.

Hard tennis courts are used in the U.S. Open and Australian Open.  The possible materials are cement, plastic, acrylic, or synthetic.  Balls bounce faster because less of the ball's momentum is absorbed or stifled by the surface cushion.  The courts are considered to have medium to fast surfaces;  hard courts are unanimously agreed upon to be the most equitable for all players.

Indoor courts consist of either wood, cement, carpet, or turf.  Wood courts are rare, and carpet courts are the most common by far.

Grass tennis courts are regarded as the fastest courts.  The serve plays a significant part, and the surface of the court is less sturdy, not as firm, and not as dense, leading to lower bounces that have to be reached faster.  Strong serve-and-volley players have a singular grass court advantage.  The player serves the ball and then races to the net to cut off the return, leaving the opponent with scant time to respond to the low-bouncing, fast-moving ball.  However, luckily for the beaten down opponents, grass courts are becoming more uncommon because they have to be watered and mowed frequently.  Of course, this is a trivial concern at Wimbledon, the most high-profile tournament that uses them.

Tennis court terms are technical and best understood in reference to a diagram.  The ad court, alley, back court, baseline, deuce court, hash mark, middle T, service box, service line, and side T are discerned quite easily when looking at a tennis court.  These separate areas compose the entirety of a tennis court.