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Ask the Experts
Hard courts vs. soft courts
Question:
In the April issue of RSI, Crawford Lindsey provided the article "Follow the Bouncing Ball," which describes the "coefficient of restitution" (COR) for a tennis ball as "0.6 for grass, 0.83 for hard courts, and 0.85 for clay courts." Furthermore, the article says, "That means that a ball's bounce will be the highest and fastest on clay, lowest and slowest on grass." The article also states, "The harder the court, the higher the ball will bounce."
If all this is not in error, then obviously clay courts, which we call soft, are harder than hard courts. I know this sounds like a line from comedian George Carlin, but if soft courts are harder than hard courts, why aren't hard courts called soft courts?
I'm asking not because of ball bounce but because of player injuries. I see more injuries on clay courts because of the longer ball exchanges on each point, the physical exertion from getting to balls that are out of reach on the faster hard courts, and foot slippage from the lack of start/stop traction.
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