David's Best Tips:

• Planning permission may not be required for building a grass court in your back yard.
• Allthough the stipulated area for a tennis court is 120 feet by 60 feet, 110 by 55 is adequate for most people and can shave thousands off the cost.
• Putting fencing only around the backs of the court saves money and is visually less intrusive.
• Cutting the corners off at 45 degrees doesn't effect play but instead is visually more pleasing and it also trickles the balls to the centre of the court behind the baseline.

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I mean, clay is probably the worst I've played where they nail the lines to the clay and every time the ball hits the thing it shoots through. So you've no chance of getting it if it hits the line.

Well, you've also got that it wears away from the line, and leaves it standing proud. You've got the down side, and so if your ball just clips the line it slides down a little shoot almost, and then digs into the surface and comes up. I mean allsorts of things can happen on a clay court. I mean it's a lovely court for sliding on but it's a beast... cor, you don't half pick out the people who don't watch the ball on a surface like that. It does have the effect of how can we say... they probably watch the ball much better that those who are brought up of a smooth surface. The clay courters have got to watch the ball. When I was at Milldfield I had a court that I loved to take my players on, because it was the worst surface in the world...

And they had to watch the ball.

Yeah. I said to them, "There's only one reason I'm bringing you on this court. I watch the ball so much better than you people that it's to my advantage to bring you on... because you're so used to all the wonder surfaces but don't like playing on this court. It's to my advantage to bring on this one". And I used to say to them, "But if you start to like it a little bit, you'll learn how to watch the ball".

I'll have to remember that the next time I play on a park court, you know get big cracks in the court you could probably loose a tennis ball down. And you know plants growing out of them...

Well, I used to set a ball machine on this court and it used to cut grooves in the back of the court, the court surface wasn't very good and it dug in. Again I used to use the other end and it used to hit towards the baseline and sometimes they went in these holes you see... and it was great fun. I thought it was hilarious.

That will prepare you for a match point on a public court, because whenever there's a match point it always lands on a divot.

It always... that's what happens whether it's the seam of a court, or whether it's a court with a broken surface like I used to use. Anyway all my champions at Millfield had to learn the hard way because they weren't going to get away with only playing.... you know people who have got a high standard always want to play on the best court. It wasn't a punishment; I took them on this court deliberately to see if they were watching the ball as much as they could.

Because there's no such thing as a perfect court.

No, never. Everything you do relates really to adjustments because you're watching the ball. The more you watch the ball and carry out the principles of eye sight of focusing, etc., and all the mediums of understanding everything that's going on around you relates to continuous use of the eyes and you can get used to not bothering to watch it too much. Because your judgement comes into effect and things like that. So a lot of top class players judge the ball, etc... because they know how... the court is so true that they know how the ball is going to bounce and at what height. You get them on a bad surface and you don't know whether it's going to shoot along the ground or stand up when it hits. I say you never ever get a court that doesn't give you a bad bounce. And if you it gives you a bad bounce, it's bound to be on an important point.

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"Choosing a Court Surface" >>