Pro basketball always on wood. Pro football (US) mostly on grass. Why do tennis surfaces vary so much?
Or is it just green clay sometimes?
In: 99
There are practical reasons that probably informed the initial reasons for having different court materials.
But regardless of practical concerns, its now just an aspect of the sport because these surfaces react differently to play, to the extent that professional players have specialized in and developed reputations around playing on those materials.
For example, Roger Federer (Grass) and Rafael Nadal (Clay) were considered near-unbeatable on their respective surface and there had long been debate over which was truly better if somehow that court material factor was neutralized. Hence the [‘Battle of the Surfaces’](https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/rafael-nadal-of-spain-in-action-against-roger-federer-of-switzerland-picture-id74050435?s=2048×2048), a gimmick tournament with a tennis court made of half clay and half grass so each side could play on their favorite surface.
It was a bit of a disaster, which if your interested I’d suggest [this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roVT7NJJh5g)
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