Sliding on Clay

CSU Bakersfield Women's Head Coach Dan McCain

As a Florida native, I grew up playing mostly on clay courts. Before my father became the director at the Saddlebrook tennis academy north of Tampa, he had his own academy in St. Petersburg at the St. Pete Racquet Club, home of 16 clay courts and only 3 hard courts.

It was on those green clay courts where I did the bulk of my training in high school, and then, when we moved to Saddlebrook, I had the privilege of playing on both green and red clay. During those years I was also very lucky to be around some great clay court players of the day. There I learned that, while there are many factors that go into playing good clay court tennis, movement on clay and the ability to slide is a top priority.

Anyone who has ever watched the French Open knows that sliding on clay is a big factor. But at any level of competition, knowing how to slide is a fundamental that can make playing on clay much easier and more enjoyable. Because there are many more hard courts in the US than clay courts, this skill seems to be under developed for many American juniors and adults. However, with a little practice and the right ideas about execution, learning to slide on clay can be easy and fun.

Interestingly enough, I learned how to slide not on the courts, but on my mother's kitchen floor running around in my socks. I remember coming home from practice when I was very young, frustrated about my movement on the dirt. I saw a commercial on TV advertising Mr. Clean, with some woman sliding around her kitchen floors and I thought, "I should do that," as any young kid would think, right....? Anyway, off I went, to my parent's dismay, and they let me continue, only after I explained how it would help my tennis game, and only after promising I wouldn't break anything.

What ensued were my early experiments with sliding, which began with the notion of leading with my dominant foot, letting my body weight go completely in the direction to which I was running, and dragging my back foot behind. The next day I went out to the courts and, perhaps in the only time in my playing career, I actually asked to do some sprints before beginning practice.

It was during these sprints that I learned once and for all how to slide on clay, and the method was similar to what I had done the night before on our kitchen floor.  After starting to run a few steps and gaining momentum, I found I could slide at any time by stepping forward, placing my right foot out in front of my hips flat on the dirt, and leaving my left foot back behind my hips, with only the toe touching the clay. Once my right foot and left toe became planted in the midst of gaining some momentum in one direction, I could slide significant distances on the clay according to how fast I was running before beginning my slide. I also found that putting pressure on the ground with my right toes (front foot) and left toes (back foot) could serve as a braking system to get myself to stop. After doing a number of repetitions of this, and experimenting with how far I could slide and how and when to use the brakes, I felt I was ready to begin experimenting on court during a practice.

Any player can learn to slide on the court, and watching the best pros in the world can be a great tool. We all know Nadal is one of the greatest clay court players of all time, and the way he slides on the dirt has a lot to do with his success.

What I began to learn as a young kid, and what Nadal and so many other great touring pros execute as well, is knowing when to slide, with what foot, and how to slide into certain shots.

On the forehand side, Nadal, because he plays left-handed, slides into most shots with his left foot, his left toes pointing parallel to the baseline, and his right toes dragging back behind his torso. This enables him to hit an open stance forehand. Federer, of course, does the same thing, just with his right foot since he's a righty, with his left toes dragging behind.

With their front toes parallel to the baseline, each of these French Open Champions are able to prepare for shots while sliding, because the front toes pointed this way allows them to turn their shoulders sideways while taking their racquets back. If the toes were to point forward toward the net, the hips would face square at the net and the players would not be able to turn their shoulders throughout the shot. By adding weight to the front toes during the slide, a player can break (stop the slide) at any time smoothly or abruptly by choice. And, a little weight added to the back toes that are dragging behind can help the braking system be more precise. 

Because Federer plays with a one-handed backhand, it is rare that he will hit an open stance backhand on clay. Therefore, executing his closed stance backhand, he will slide with his right foot into the shot and drag the left toe behind. While sliding, Federer often points his right toes at an angle or even parallel to the baseline to ensure the proper shoulder turn.

Federer certainly is more than capable (as was three-time French Open Champ Gustavo Kuerten) of sliding into an open stance backhand, and I've seen him do it. But for most one-handed players, sliding into a closed stance backhand is preferred because it makes it easier maintain the proper sideways shoulder and hip posture through the completion of the stroke.

Nadal of course, with his two-handed backhand, will essentially do the same thing on a closed stance backhand, just the reverse again because he's left-handed. By leading with the left foot and dragging behind the right toe as he slides into the shot, he can execute a closed stance backhand. However, because he possesses a two-handed backhand, he has the option of sliding into an open-stance backhand at any time.

Two-handed players should learn to slide with both feet on their backhands like Nadal does, because it frees up the ability to hit open stance. If a player only knows how to slide by leading with the dominant foot, mobility becomes limited because the open stance backhand is not possible without being able to slide by leading with the opposite foot. Nadal can slide into his backhand by leading with his right foot and dragging behind with his left toes to hit an open stance backhand, or he can slide with his dominant left foot into a closed stance backhand, giving him more options.

I have played against players who knew how to slide beautifully with the dominant foot, but could not slide at all with the non-dominant foot. Consequently, I knew those players would have difficulty hitting an open stance backhand. And, this left them vulnerable to wide shots to the backhand side because it forced them into a closed stance situation off the court and made recovery difficult at best.

It's important to understand that, for the majority of the time, the pros mentioned above slide before hitting their shot. Sometimes players are forced to slide after the shot when they are rushed, or put in a tough situation, or hitting what they believe will be the last shot of the point (going for broke, so to speak).

Sliding on clay before the hit enables players to comfortably track down shots during points and recovery quickly back to the middle. If a player slides after hitting a shot, he or she will often be sliding away from the court, making recovery more difficult, and often putting them out position to win or stay in the point. Not having grown up on clay, this is what American pros don’t seem to grasp naturally and, perhaps it explains why they don’t perform as well as the Europeans on the dirt.

Forehands and backhands from behind the baseline are obviously not the only shots pros will slide into before hitting. Any time a player needs to run across the court before hitting a shot, sliding is appropriate. This can occur mid-court, behind the baseline, or at the net. Good clay court players slide on almost every shot, if not, their balance and ability to make quick stops and starts in different directions would be unstable at best.

Court Conditions

It is also important to consider the specific clay court one is playing on, since the courts are composed of different types and amounts of clay, which can affect how far and easily one can slide. For example, if a court is only thinly covered with clay (often at clubs with poor maintenance standards), sliding will be difficult and if one can slide at all, it will be limited. On the other hand, courts will plenty of clay and a soft feel to the ground allow players to slide easily and at significant distances across the court.

The overall moisture of the clay also effects how far and easily one can slide. A wet court provides players with shorter sliding distances and less slippery conditions, while a drier court will provide players with potentially longer and easier sliding opportunities, but more slippery conditions.

The moisture is also affected by the type of watering system in place at the tennis facility. Some clay courts have sprinkling systems that water the courts periodically throughout the day, while other, newer facilities, have underground watering systems. Many of the underground watering systems provide an evenly and well moisturized court, and typically create a more slippery surface.

Types of Clay

The type of clay also plays a role, since there is a significant difference between playing and sliding on green and red clay. With both surfaces, all of the general outlined principles still apply; however, the differences are worth noting. Red clay poses more emphatic differences between dry and wet conditions, while the differences on green clay are more subtle.

Red clay is more slippery when dry than green clay, and players will have a greater need to slide and greater opportunities to slide further distances. However, Red clay is a more compact and a harder surface when wet than green clay, making sliding opportunities on the red clay shorter and more abrupt. Players will not be able to slide very much at all if the red clay gets very wet and muddy.

Generally speaking, if a player can move well on red clay, he can move well on green clay, and vice versa. By using the concepts outlined above, players can not only learn to move well on the dirt, but they can learn to enjoy it as well. The feeling of sliding across the court and hitting a good shot is addictive, and in my opinion there is no better feeling in our sport. Knowing how to move well on clay can give you a tremendous advantage over your opponent, and being able to use either foot in leading into your slides can only add to that advantage.

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