Artificial Clay Tennis Surface

01/02/2007
Artificial Clay Tennis Surface Designed to Support Training and Improve International Performance

Auckland, NZ - With the French Open just under a week away, there is growing speculation about Federer's ability to conquer his only vulnerability: clay. Meanwhile, Tennis New Zealand today announced the launch of ClayTurf, an artificial clay surface designed to facilitate more clay training.

ClayTurf, developed by TigerTurf in collaboration with Tennis NZ, was created in order to provide the sport of tennis with a high performance, cost effective, low maintenance synthetic court surface that plays like clay.

Tennis New Zealand CEO, Don Turner explains, "In order to develop top talent, players have to have training access to clay courts. However, many climates, including ours here in New Zealand, are extremely hard on clay. And, the reality is the maintenance budgets of many clubs just can't keep up with clay's demands."

TigerTurf GM in Australia and member of the ClayTurf research and development team, Chris Simpson, says the company seeks out innovative projects like ClayTurf that involve designing new surfaces on which to develop talent.
"First and foremost, TigerTurf International is a company of sport enthusiasts. ClayTurf offers the sport of tennis a new tool to help develop elite athletes and enable them to compete on an international stage."

Turner says ClayTurf will support tennis development in New Zealand and abroad.
"The majority of the world's top players of today are learning their tennis on clay. This was not the case for tennis' first 100 years when three Grand Slams were played on grass. But over the past 20 years, since two Grand Slams have converted to hard courts, the clay court countries have quickly dominated. Roughly half of the world's ITF Futures, and one third of the WTA and ATP tournaments are on clay today."

The brief to TigerTurf was to produce a surface like clay on which sliding was possible and necessary, and the bounce was as high as possible.
TigerTurf laid two artificial clay surfaces at the NZ Tennis courts at the Vodafone Tennis Park in Glen Innes in December. Since then, top national players, Auckland clubs and coaches have been trailing the surfaces.

"In the results of our trial, many of our top coaches and players were impressed with the way ClayTurf plays, saying it is close to real clay in terms of movement over the court, with a higher bounce than other synthetic surfaces. From a club perspective, it is high performance while also being cost-effective and durable. It will allow training time on a clay-type surface for our players, and that training time will be invaluable to the sport of tennis."

Former Australian tennis great, Mark Edmondson worked together with TNZ and Simpson on the research and development of the clay courts.
"As President of a court installation company in Australia, I worked closely with TigerTurf to develop ClayTurf. For years I have been convinced that it is possible to build a clay-type surface using a carpet base. I am extremely proud of what we have achieved," said Edmondson

Added Simpson, 'The ClayTurf surface has achieved its two objectives. Certainly the slide, and the traction off the mark, is very similar to clay. The bounce is clearly higher and slower than synthetic grass."

Turner says playing time on ClayTurf may be of particular benefit to juniors.
"The surface is low impact on the body, which is an important element as our top juniors, with young, rapidly maturing bodies, spend many hours in training, and sometimes show physical effects from uncushioned hard courts," said Turner.
TNZ high performance manager Paul Smith believes the courts will add another dimension to the sport in this country.

"As Tennis NZ puts the building blocks in place for a high performance programme, it is clear that we will now have an extra tool - a surface that enables our top juniors to learn the clay court experience that is such a vital part of top world tennis today."
From a maintenance perspective, while the courts are not maintenance free, they are significantly more manageable than regular clay.

TigerTurf Operations Manager, Don Crockett said, "The experience of Tennis NZ at Vodafone Tennis Park is that each court will need regular weekly maintenance of around 30 minutes per week.

"Wind will cause surface sand to drift to one side or other of the court, and this needs to be repositioned by the use of a squeegee type broom. The beauty of it is that ClayTurf does not need watering and play is possible in wet conditions, depending on the drainage of the courts, and the players' preferences."