A clay court is one of the four different types of tenniscourt. The French Open uses clay courts. Clay courts are made of crushed shale, stone or brick, and can be either red or green. The red clay is slower than the green, or Har-Thru(c) "American" clay. Tennis balls This article is about the sport, tennis. ... A tennis courts dimension A tennis court is where a game of tennis is played. ... The French Open, officially the Tournoi de Roland-Garros (English: Roland Garros Tournament), is a tennis event held from the middle of May to the beginning of June in Paris, France, and is the second of the worlds Grand Slam tournaments. ... Shale Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. ... Sedimentary, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ... A weathered brick wall. ...
For the 1928 Davis Cup challenge, a new tennis stadium was built at Porte d’Auteuil.
Named for a hero of World War I, the new Stade Roland Garros, and Court Philippe Chatrier, was built with a red clay (terrebattue) playing surface, one which alters the ball's bounce and the player's approach to the match vis-à-vis grass courts.
As such, over the years, clay court specialists have evolved who often succeed here whilst higher ranked players may struggle like the great champion Pete Sampras and current World No. 1 Roger Federer who won every other Grand Slam several times but never the French Open.