Slide Board for Clay Court Mobility

Tennis Tech and Training

Maria Sharapova once famously described her clay court mobility as a “cow on ice.” My own footwork on clay is not nearly that graceful. A few years ago one of my doubles partners who is a clay court specialist recommended the use of a slide board to get used to the sensation of playing on clay. With the Senior Women’s Clay Court Championships less than a month away, the slide board is currently in heavy rotation in my personal training.

There aren’t a lot of clay courts in my part of the country. While there are some in the DFW area where I permanently reside, they are the exclusive domain of private clubs. It is really expensive to properly maintain a clay court in the scorching heat and windy conditions of North Texas. When I do buy my way onto the clay courts in my area… it is usually a disappointing experience. North Texas clay doesn’t play the same as the parts of the country where clay courts are more common.

While the slide board can be used for long duration general conditioning, I have found that it works best in shorter intervals that correspond to the average length of a point, which is 35 seconds. A pretty common training pattern for me is to use the slide board for 35 seconds and then interweave those intervals with some form of resistance training.

There are a lot of good slide board variations. Sometimes I hold a medicine ball and use the weight to simulate racquet prep and swings coming in and out of the slide. Sometimes I take the slide board out of the home gym and play catch with a stationary partner using the medicine ball. I also sometimes put the slide board in front of a wall bounce a tennis ball off it as I side. All of these are effective mechanisms to develop the balance and core strength required for efficient movement on clay.

For me, the slide board seems to help my tennis play. Despite not having regular access to a clay court I have managed to reach the back draw Singles finals at the Houston Clay Court Nationals on two occasions. In a Feed In Consolation through the Quarters (FICQ) draw, that is the 5th-6th match.

As far as aerobic training equipment goes, the slide board is very reasonably priced and doesn’t take up a lot of space in the home gym. When not in use, I hang mine on a hook behind the door.

The slide board torches the hips, glutes, quads, and hamstrings. In addition to tennis and the “on label” usage for ice skating, I have found that it is really effective to prepare for snow skiing as well. It might be just the thing you need to round out your tennis training or to prepare for clay court season. Alternatively, if you are looking for a way to step up your training for a winter ski trip, a slide board could be just the thing you need.