Carpet court

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A carpet court in Krakow, Poland Korty power game.jpg
A carpet court in Kraków, Poland

A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The International Tennis Federation describes the surface as a "textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product". [1] It is one of the fastest court types, second only to grass courts. [2] [ verification needed ] The use of carpet courts in ATP Tour competitions ended in 2009. [3] In women's tennis, no WTA Tour tournaments have used carpet courts since the last edition of the Tournoi de Québec in 2018. ATP Challenger and ITF circuit level tournaments with carpet courts continue to exist up to the present (2024).

Contents

Types

There are two types of carpet court. The most common outdoor version consists of artificial turf with a sand in-fill. This type of carpet court became popular in the 1980s in British and Asian tennis clubs for recreational play as they were easier and cheaper to maintain than grass courts. [4] [5]

The other type used predominantly for indoor tennis is a textile surface of nylon or rubber matting laid out on a concrete base. [6] They came in many kinds of synthetic materials, from different sources, which led to the tennis tournaments and organizers (WTA/ATP) typically identifying and labelling carpet courts by their brand names such as Greenset, Supreme or Taraflex.[ citation needed ]

Carpet courts have been used in venues which are not normally used for tennis or other sports, such as the Royal Albert Hall in London. [7] [8] Players usually approach such courts as they would a grass court due to both being similarly fast surfaces. [9]

Professional tournaments

The ATP Finals, WCT Finals, U.S. Pro Indoor, ECC Antwerp, Kremlin Cup, Paris Masters and Zagreb Indoors tournaments were all once played on carpet. [10] In 2009, the governing body for men's professional tennis, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), decided to end the use of carpet courts in top-tier tournaments. [3] ATP spokesman Kris Dent said the most important reason for the change was to standardise indoor competitions to hard courts which he said will reduce the risk of injury. [3] A number of players including Mario Ančić and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga criticised the move stating that professional tennis needed carpet courts for players to develop their ability for playing on fast courts. [3] The last event played on carpet courts on the WTA Tour, the Tournoi de Québec, ended after the 2018 edition. In the 2019 WTA 125K series, the only tournament played on carpet was the Taipei Open. The developmental ATP Challenger Tour still has several carpet court events.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennis court</span> Type of sports venue

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hardcourt</span> Type of tennis court surface

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grass court</span> Type of tennis court

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This page is a glossary of tennis terminology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kremlin Cup</span> Tennis tournament

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clay court</span> Type of tennis court

A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles on top. Clay courts are more common in Continental Europe and Latin America than in North America, Asia-Pacific or Britain. The only Grand Slam tournament that uses clay courts is the French Open.

The Tournoi de Québec was a WTA Tour International level tennis tournament held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. Held from 1993 to 2018, the tournament was the last women's professional tennis tournament still played on indoor carpet courts. It was held at the PEPS stadium. The tournament was known as Challenge Bell from the first edition to 2013.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">GreenSet</span> Tennis court surfacing

GreenSet is a supplier of acrylic hardcourt surfaces used in many professional tennis events run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tours. It is made of layers of acrylic resin and silica on top of an asphalt or concrete base, for permanent facilities, or on top of a wooden platform, for venues with occasional use. The company is based in Barcelona, Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2013 ITF Men's Circuit</span>

The 2013 ITF Men's Circuit is the 2013 edition of the entry level tour for men's professional tennis, and is the third tier tennis tour below the Association of Tennis Professionals, World Tour and Challenger Tour. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) who additionally organizes the ITF Women's Circuit which is an entry level tour for women's professional tennis. Future tournaments are organized to offer either $10,000 or $15,000 in prize money and tournaments which offering hospitality to players competing in the main draw give additional ranking points which are valid under the ATP ranking system, and are to be organized by a national association or approved by the ITF Men's Circuit Committee.

The Rio Open, also known as the Rio Open presented by Claro for sponsorship reasons, is a tennis event on the ATP Tour and former WTA International Tournaments event. The tournament is played on outdoor clay courts at the Jockey Club Brasileiro in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the only ATP Tour 500 event in South America and the only ATP Tour event in Brazil.

The 2014 ITF Men's Circuit is the 2014 edition of the entry level tour for men's professional tennis, and is the third tier tennis tour below the Association of Tennis Professionals, World Tour and Challenger Tour. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) who additionally organizes the ITF Women's Circuit which is an entry level tour for women's professional tennis. Future tournaments are organized to offer either $10,000 or $15,000 in prize money and tournaments which offering hospitality to players competing in the main draw give additional ranking points which are valid under the ATP ranking system, and are to be organized by a national association or approved by the ITF Men's Circuit Committee.

The Memphis Open was a professional tennis tournament that ran from 1975 to 2017. From 1977 onwards, the event was held at the Racquet Club of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee. The Memphis Open was the only ATP event in the United States which was played on indoor hard courts; it usually took place in February. For part of its history it was a combined men's and women's tournament, but for its final four years it was solely a men's tournament.

The 2015 ITF Men's Circuit is the 2015 edition of the entry level tour for men's professional tennis, and is the third tier tennis tour below the Association of Tennis Professionals, World Tour and Challenger Tour. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) who additionally organizes the ITF Women's Circuit which is an entry level tour for women's professional tennis. Future tournaments are organized to offer either $10,000 or $15,000 in prize money and tournaments which offering hospitality to players competing in the main draw give additional ranking points which are valid under the ATP ranking system, and are to be organized by a national association or approved by the ITF Men's Circuit Committee.

The Tournoi de La Châtaigneraie or the La Chataigneraie Tournament was a men's and women's open international clay court tennis tournament founded in 1968. It was organised by the Tennis Club la Chataigneraie and played at La Châtaigneraie, France until 1983. The tournament was part ILTF European Circuit a sub circuit of the ILTF World Circuit until 1972, then became part of the ILTF Independent Tour until it was discontinued.

References

  1. ↑ "Surface Types" (PDF) ITF. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  2. ↑ Simon O'Hagan (27 April 1996). "A magic carpet ride for Henman". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "La ATP prohíbe jugar en moqueta en el 2009" (in Spanish). Mad a. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  4. ↑ Tarran, Bruce (2013). George Hillyard: The man who moved Wimbledon. Troubador Publishing Ltd. p. 127. ISBN   978-1780885490.
  5. ↑ Littlewood, David (2012). Metric Handbook. Routledge. p. 18. ISBN   978-1135140656.
  6. ↑ "Surface descriptions – Carpet". ITF. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  7. ↑ John Roberts (4 December 1997). "Tennis: McEnroe ready to relive drama of fire and ice". The Independent. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "London 1999". ITF. Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  9. ↑ "How to adapt to different tennis surfaces and conditions". The Guardian. 28 June 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
  10. ↑ "Carpet Court ATP Tour Tennis Tournaments". Tennis.wettpoint.com. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
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