While the rules and court size regulations across international professional tennis tournaments remain the same, with each new season comes a new variable: the tennis court surface. Here is a breakdown of the three prominent tennis court surfaces used on the professional tennis circuits and at the Olympics. 
 

Clay coming off the shoes of Naomi Osaka during her match against Victoria Azarenka on day five of the 2019 French Open.

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After a winter on hard courts, the professional tennis season slows down in the spring on Europe's clay courts. 
Clay courts are made with crushed brick and other loose minerals. The famous red clay courts of Roland-Garros, where the 2024 Olympic tennis tournament will be held, are made of crushed gravel, clinker (coal residue), crushed white limestone, and topped with crushed brick, which gives the courts its iconic red clay coloring. 

The clay on the court both slows down the ball and grips it, generating a higher bounce. Clay court matches are slower, and big servers looking for a fast point don't fare well. With the slower play comes longer rallies and defensive players with immense stamina endure through a match. 

Clay courts are a tennis player's colorful canvas, with the brushstrokes of lines, divots and dust painting a picture of a well-fought match. The ball bounce is unpredictable, and while a dimple on the clay court may have been a mark left from a winning shot at the last point, it could be the downfall for that same player at the next moment, causing the ball to bounce erratically enough that the player can't reach. Powerful sprints on hard courts transform into balletic slides on clay. Tennis players can run to a shot and let inertia glide them to the perfect position to get that winning shot. Tennis on clay requires different sneakers than on hard courts, and professional tennis players often do drills to enhance clay slides.  

The tactile players who have mastered the spin, slice, topspin or backspin as weapons in their tennis arsenal are likelier to see victory on the clay court. With a deft hand and a strategic eye, a player who can orchestrate a nuanced shot into a winner will prevail. 

Men's Olympic tennis champion in 2008, Rafael Nadal, is known as "The King of Clay." The Spaniard won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles at Roland-Garros. Olympian Iga Swiatek has also found success on clay, capturing three of her four Grand Slam titles at Roland-Garros.

Novak Djokovic returns a shot against Alexander Zverev in the men's singles semifinals during the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

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The Grand Slam tennis season kicks off and concludes on the most popular court surface every year – the resilient hard court. 

Hard courts are made with either a concrete or asphalt base coated with acrylic or resin poured on top to provide cushioning. The Australian Open and the U.S. Open, both one-time grass court tournaments, are currently held on acrylic-coated hard tops. The last seven Olympic tennis tournaments have been held on hard courts, with the exception of London in 2012, which was played on grass.

While not as fast as grass or as slow as clay, the hard court is considered faster, with a ball that bounces high. Hard courts have been called "The Democratic Court" because it favors players of all different competition styles, both offensive and defensive. They are especially kind to players because they have a more consistent and predictable ball bounce. 

Historically, heavy hitters with fast-paced play do well on hard courts. Olympians Serena Williams and Alexander Zverev are two players who have taken home the gold on the hard court.

Andy Murray serves against Roger Federer in the gold medal match during the London 2012 Olympic Games at Wimbledon.

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Once summer hits, the tennis court moves from the slowest to the fastest surface. For five weeks every summer, tennis returns to its roots (pun intended) on the grass tennis courts. 

Wimbledon, tennis's only Grand Slam played on grass, requires players to wear completely flat-sole shoes so as not to damage the court. While generally considered the fastest court surface, multiple factors impact grass-court speed, including the weather pre- and post-match and how the soil compacts over time. The weather also affects a ball's stroke. On a warm, dry day, the ball is lighter and travels faster, but it is seemingly heavier and slower on damp, cold days.

Grass-court matches used to be a game dominated by those who excelled at the serve and volley. But in 2002, Wimbledon changed the grass makeup to 100% perennial ryegrass, which changed how players competed on the Wimbledon grass. 
Grass games are not favorable to defensive players. Those who excel on grass must be aggressive and stay low, as the ball doesn't bounce high. Fast players who dominate the net are likely to see success on grass. 

Roger Federer, the 2012 men's Olympic tennis champion, was a regular victor on grass and captured eight of his 20 major men's singles titles at Wimbledon. On the women's side, Olympian Martina Navratilova won Wimbledon nine times and is the most successful woman in singles in Wimbledon history.