Hard and True: The U.S. Open Series is the Hardcourt Season
Is there a more misleading name for a tennis court surface than Har-Tru? Har-Tru courts are green clay and are neither hard nor true. When I was growing up in Georgia in the ‘70s it was known as Rubico, a word that has long fallen out of fashion but sounds more in line with how the courts play – soft and gritty and with a European/South American nuance.
My tennis in my youth was on hard courts, a surface where the ball bounces up lively and strong and if the court is not maintained by some negligent government institution that let it fall victim to cracks (and why is it the cracks always seem to run along or near the service lines?), the bounce of the ball is vibrant and honest and predictable.
Most of my tennis these days is played on Har-Tru, a soft cushion of a surface. I grant you now that I am in my forties that running around on the spongy clay is certainly better on the knees, hips, back and other aging joints and muscles, but I still miss that thump of the ball as it bounces up from a hardcourt.
On clay and grass, the court itself is too much of a factor, slowing the ball down or deflecting it. On hard courts, the ball bounces the way it wants to, and goes the direction it was hit, and the surface doesn’t have much to say about it — it’s the truest form of tennis. Tennis should be more about the ball, and less about the ground underfoot.
That’s why I’m excited to see the professional tour begin the U.S. Open Series, the prize-money trail that leads the top pros to the U.S. Open, the year’s final Grand Slam. Click here for the complete TV schedule.
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Jul 31st, 2009 at 12:53 pm
As General Manager of Lee Tennis Court Products, the manufacturer of Har-Tru, I felt compelled to clarify a few items from your blog.
Let me start by saying thanks for for taking the tiem to write about Har-Tru; the most recognizable tennis court surfacing brand in the country by far.
I admit that the name “Har-Tru” can be easily misunderstood and thus confusing. Har certainly forces the mind to think of Hard… but, by understanding the history of the product we may be able to alleviate some of that confusion.
Har-Tru first hit the streets (or better said, the courts) in the later part of the 1920’s. Until then, clay tennis courts were either constructed from natural clays or loam in the US, or from an imported product called En-Tout-Cas. At the time, the sole US importer and distributor of the European manufacturer En-Tout-Cas was a gentleman in NY named H.A.Robinson. Mr. Robinson was a sports field builder based in Manhattan and in the mid 1920’s discovered a naturally occuring greenstone material in the mountains of VA/MD/PA that when crushed to a fine powder, could be used to build “clay” tennis courts. That product was later branded Har-Tru.
As for the brand name, the “HAR” comes from Mr. Robinson’s initials and the “TRU”, as rumor has it, was coined by his wife to speak to the materials true green color, true bounce, and true sliding characteristics.
You have to understand that at the time, bounce was being compared to other 1920 era tennis courts…most notably natural grass and local clays. Hard Courts were nearly non-existant in 1920.
I hope this helps to educate you and your readers as to the evolution of the brand name. Today, over 30,000 Har-Tru courts can be found throughout America, Canada, the UK, and a dozen or so other countries. If you have more questions about Har-Tru or the advantages of clay court tennis in general, please visit our website at http://www.playtheclay.com. As you age, you will appreciate the comfort and slide of Har-Tru more and more.
Play The Clay! Play for Life!
Regards,
Randy Futty
General Manager
Lee Tennis Court Products