How To Build A Clay Tennis Court In Your Backyard

If you are an avid tennis player, you may want a little bit more convenience for your tennis playing needs- so how to build a clay tennis court in your own backyard may interest you. While it isn't technically difficult, it is detailed and will take a solid amount of time and resources to accomplish it. Laying down a clay court isn't exactly as easy as simply buying some clay and spreading it out in your backyard, it takes a large amount of digging and planning, not to mention monetary investment.

1. Find the space. A tennis court will take a large amount of space in order to work properly. This isn't just where the court is, but also what is around it. You want it to be in a big open space with very little trees, buildings, or anything that can cast a shadow onto the court around it. This is because moving or breaking shadows can cause havoc on a tennis player.  You also may want room to put a large fence around the perimeter to keep errant balls from getting too far.
2. Drainage. There will be a lot of digging. After you find a suitable space to build the clay tennis court, you will need to check if it is fairly level, and if not you will want to make it that way. You will also want to take into account that the playing surface should be slightly raised from the surface around it in order to assist with draining and keep water from pooling on the clay court. This will mean the surface is graded level from center with about a two inch slope on either side.
3. The big dig. If you are building your court in a climate that does not get very cold, a 6 to 8 inch concrete foundation is probably all you will need. More winter like climates will need a bigger base. Next, you will want to lay down 1 1/2 inches of crushed stone and 1 1/2 inches of gravel on top of that. Now that all that is done, you will want to lay about 3 inches of clay base on top of the gravel. Your tennis court is now taking shape. The clay mixture that seems to work the best is 1/3 clay, 1/3 silt, and 1/3 sand. Now dust the court with chloride of calcium and all that's left is setting up your net and drawing some lines.

Now go work on your serve and hit the showers, you've just built a clay tennis court in your own backyard!