Understanding The Tennis Basics: The Masters 1000 Events

While the four ‘Major’ Grand Slam tournaments punctuate the tennis calendar as the most prestigious tournaments, the vast majority of a professional players’ schedule is taken up by slightly lesser-known tournaments: the Masters 1000 events. 

Men and women both player Masters events, though not always at the same venue at the same tournament (for example, the men play the Rome Masters around March, while the women play in May). To win a Masters event is to earn 1,000 points towards the world ranking of a player, almost immediately guaranteeing them a top-10 ranking within the game. 

There are 11 Masters events per year for both men and women, all worth 1,000 points. Attendance is compulsory at these events for any professional, though it is possible to miss up to three of the Masters if you satisfy certain conditions such as longevity in the game or player age. Masters tournaments are played on two of the major professional surfaces, with long stints in Northern America known as the hard court season and a European stint in the spring referred to as the clay court season.

Bizarrely, there is no Masters 1000 event played on grass despite it being home to perhaps the most recognisable tennis tournament. Along with the Grand Slam Wimbledon, there are other tournaments played on grass in the tennis calendar but none that qualify as a Masters 1000. Most of the Masters events are played on hard court, with just the Rome Masters, Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Masters played on clay.  

Tennis Surfaces Explained, Part 3: Hard Court

While the best known tennis surface is undoubtedly grass, the majority of the tennis professional season is not played on that surface. Here, we look into the finer details of the most predominant surface on the professional tour: hard court.

Despite the name, hard courts are not the hardest courts on the tennis tour. That honor goes to clay, where the ball bounces high and slow as a result. Hard courts are, in fact, more of a middle ground between the two ‘natural’ surfaces of clay and grass. With clay the slowest surface and grass the fastest on the regular calendar, hard court is somewhere in the middle. When a ball bounces on hard court, it bounces higher than it would on grass, but lower than it would on clay. Therefore this surface suits ‘all rounder’ players.

Two tennis Grand Slam Major tournaments are played on hard court: the Australian Open at the start of the calendar season, and the United States Open around September / October time. While the Slams played on the natural surfaces – clay and grass – tend to have consecutive winners (Rafael Nadal has won the French Open five times, Roger Federer has won Wimbledon six times), results tend to be a little more varied on hard court. 

Despite the overall dominance of Nadal and Federer over the tennis game, during their tenure other players have won the Australian or US Open – such as Andy Roddick, who won the US Open, or Novak Djokovic’s victory at the Australian. 

Tennis Surfaces Explained, Part 2: Clay

Anyone aspiring to be a professional tennis player will usually play on a variety of different surfaces. Here, we examine arguably the most difficult surface to play on: clay.

In professional tennis, there are actually two forms of clay court used. The first, red clay, is the primary surface seen in the major tennis events in Europe. The second, green clay, is predominantly featured in Northern American tournaments. The two types of clay, however, differ little aside from their color, and feel fairly similar to play on.

Clay courts tend to be the slowest that any tennis player will experience. The ball bounces high, and slowly. This means any baseline-based player will have time to set up their shots. Clay is often seen as the exact opposite of grass: where grass is fast and favors big servers, clay is slow and big servers tend to struggle as the slowness of the surface removes their primary weapon. 

The French Open – sometimes referred to as Roland Garros – is the only Grand Slam Major to be played on clay. As the tournament is in Europe, it is played on red clay in Paris, France. The French Open is widely considered the most difficult Grand Slam to win, as was evidenced by Roger Federer who despite a near-total domination over the game of tennis, took many attempts before finally winning the tournament in 2009. His main rival, Rafael Nadal, is arguably the best clay court player of all time, and to date has won the French Open five times.