A carpet court is a type of tennis court . The International Tennis Federation describes the surface as a "textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product". It is one of the fastest court types, second only to grass courts . The use of carpet courts in ATP Tour competitions ended in 2009. In women's tennis, no WTA Tour tournaments have used carpet courts since the last edition of the Tournoi de Québec in 2018. ATP Challenger and ITF circuit level tournaments with carpet courts continue to exist up to the present (2024).
5-557: The Chicago Grand Prix is a defunct professional tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts . It was part of the Grand Prix circuit . It was held annually at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago , Illinois , USA from 1985 to 1987. It is unrelated to a World Championship Tennis event held in Chicago for one year in 1982 . The singles tournament saw four American players reach the final in
10-457: A sand in-fill. This type of carpet court became popular in the 1980s in British and Asian tennis clubs for recreational play as they were easier and cheaper to maintain than grass courts. The other type used predominantly for indoor tennis is a textile surface of nylon or rubber matting laid out on a concrete base. They came in many kinds of synthetic materials, from different sources, which led to
15-472: The governing body for men's professional tennis, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), decided to end the use of carpet courts in top-tier tournaments. ATP spokesman Kris Dent said the most important reason for the change was to standardise indoor competitions to hard courts which he said will reduce the risk of injury. A number of players, including Mario Ančić and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , criticised
20-738: The tennis tournaments and organizers (WTA/ATP) typically identifying and labelling carpet courts by their brand names such as Greenset, Supreme or Taraflex. Carpet courts have been used in venues which are not normally used for tennis or other sports, such as the Royal Albert Hall in London. Players usually approach such courts as they would a grass court due to both being similarly fast surfaces. The ATP Finals , WCT Finals , U.S. Pro Indoor , ECC Antwerp , Kremlin Cup , Paris Masters and Zagreb Indoors tournaments were all once played on carpet. In 2009,
25-463: The three years of the tournament: Tim Mayotte won the title in 1987 against countryman David Pate , John McEnroe beat compatriot Jimmy Connors in 1985. Boris Becker defeated Ivan Lendl in 1986. In doubles, American duo Ken Flach and Robert Seguso reached the final on two occasions, winning in 1986 and losing in 1985. Carpet court There are two types of carpet court. The most common outdoor version consists of artificial turf with
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