24/05/2026
Interesting facts about the French Open
The French Open has been the only major played on clay courts since 1978, when the US Open changed to hard courts. Clay is the slowest tennis court surface, as the fine layer of red clay dust on the topmost reduces the ball speed and causes it to bounce much higher when compared with hard courts and grass courts. For this specificity, the clay surface takes away some of the advantages of big servers and serve and volleyers, making it harder for these types of players to dominate on the surface.