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Why use grass on tennis courts? Grass is fast!

Lower ball bounce, less friction make for fast paced play

July 1, 2021 – The Wimbledon tennis tournament is famous for its all-white dress code, strawberries and cream, and grass courts. The July 1stSoils Matter blog explores the different types of tennis courts and why grass courts are the hardest to play on.

Bloggers J. Scott Ebdon and Michelle DaCosta explain, “Compared to a rough surface (hard courts), a smooth surface like grass will have less friction. That means that after the tennis ball impacts a court surface, it will retain more of its inbound speed (velocity) than after impacting a court of low surface friction.”

Because grass surfaces are softer than other court surfaces, the tennis ball bounces lower therefore the pace of play is faster. Throughout the Wimbledon tournament, the grass wears down to foot traffic which makes the ball’s bounce and speed inconsistent. Learn more about grass courts including the types of turfgrass used by reading the entire blog: https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/why-use-grass-on-tennis-courts-grass-is-fast/

Follow SSSA on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SSSA.soils, Twitter at SSSA_Soils. SSSA has soils information on www.soils.org/discover-soils, for teachers at www.soils4teachers.org, and for students through 12th grade, www.soils4kids.org.

The ACSESS is an international scientific and professional society with its headquarters in Madison, WI.