User:The C of E/carpet

A carpet court is the name given to a type of tennis court. The official definition from the International Tennis Federation is that any surface that can be removed as a mat is classed as a carpet court. It was one of the fastest court types behind grass courts. Four ATP tournaments, including the Antwerp Open, Kremlin Cup, Paris Masters and Zagreb Indoors used carpet courts. The use of carpet courts in ATP World Tour competitions ended in 2009 after the ATP banned them as a result of wanting to unify the types of court used within ATP tour matches as well as to prevent injuries.

Types
There are two types of carpet court. The outdoor version consists of artificial grass weighted with sand. This type of carpet court became popular in the 1980s in British tennis clubs as they were easier and cheaper to maintain than grass courts. These types of carpet court also became popular in Asia and for recreational tennis. The other type used for indoor tennis was a textile surface of nylon or a sheet of rubber matting on a concrete base. These would often be used in venues which are not normally used for tennis or other sports. Such as the Royal Albert Hall in London. Playing on carpet courts, players usually approach it as they would a grass court due to both being similarly fast courts.

Competition
Several shortly lived tournaments used carpet courts. Until 2009, four Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour tournaments used carpet courts; Antwerp Open, Kremlin Cup, Paris Masters and Zagreb Indoors. In 2009, the ATP decided to ban carpet courts in ATP World Tour competitions as part of a drive to standardise all ATP World Tour competitions to hard court as well as to prevent injuries. A number of players including Mario Ancic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga criticised the move stating that professional tennis needed carpet courts for players to develop their ability for playing on fast courts and that having four surfaces created variety for spectators.