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Reflections on my three years with Astro courts

31/12/2020

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This is going to annoy some players and others will agree with my reflections!

The good points:
Astro allows you to carry on playing when the courts are damp or wet.

(sorry that's it)

Bad points: ​
No professional players will ever accept Astro as a competition surface, why because it's bounce is irregular, It will not take "kick" serves, it takes all the top spin out of the ball, the surface is totally inconsistent with bounce. 
Players slice more on Astro because Astro deadens the ball.
When Astro is damp the balls get heavy and cause "tennis elbow"

Astro requires more correct maintenance than Hard Courts.
The amount of sand on Astro is critical to the way is plays.

You require correct "omni" soled shoes for Astro to maintain your correct grip.

Less rallies on Astro as the ball doesn't come through, it doesn't bounce and stays low. (you will never get to it!)

The adage that it is kinder to the knee joints is dependent on the type and amount of sand used. Too little sand too much grip, too much sand and you now have a clay like slippy surface.

Take the Astro players to a hard court and they will say
"The ball bounces too high "
"The kick serve kicks out of reach" 
"The slice isn't working" "the top spin is pushing me back" 
(all part of the top players way of playing)

and finally to get to be top players they need to play rallies learn to construct  the points, 3 shot rallies will not do this !

Ending on a good point Astro in the summer is far better as they are drier the ball bounces, but still less top spin and kick lol!

note: these are my reflections on Astro courts v other surfaces, 
​ I welcome yours.

PS: the LTA, ATP, have stated they will never accept Astro as being a competition surface!

PPS: I still enjoy playing tennis on all surfaces, Astro not as much as I did !

Update: Right the courts have been resurfaced with New Astro,
No more heavy wet tennis balls, good even bounce, so I'm back to liking the Astro again.
The problem was that the old Astro didn't drain the water off the courts, the new Astro has a different weave so it drains better.
​








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    Hi I'm Dave Giles, This is my Blog page, please feel free to leave a comment, I will of course review any comment before it is published.
    I have been involved with racket sports for over 40 yrs. I am a string tester for  various companies. I play mostly tennis nowadays but have been tempted back to squash coaching.

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