Grand Slam Tournament Surfaces

The French Open has been played on clay since 1905. Previous to that year it was played on sand.

Up until 1974, the other three Grand Slam tournaments were all played on grass. The US Open switched to clay in 1975, following complaints about the uneven bounce on grass; and three years later the tournament was moved from West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills to the new National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, where the courts were hard. Both venues are (or were) in Queens, New York.

The Australian Open moved in 1988 from Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, where the courts were grass, to Flinders Park, where they're hard. Flinders Park was renamed Melbourne Park (simply because of the extra publicity it garnered for the city) in 1996.

Wimbledon has always been played on grass courts, and is now the only Grand Slam tournament that is.

Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won the US Open singles competition (men's or women's) on grass, clay and hard courts.

© Haydn Thompson 2022