The differences between playing tennis indoors and outdoors may seem obvious, however, there are some subtle aspects of playing tennis indoors that can change your game and strategy. I’d like to discuss some of these aspects and help you prepare your game for the indoor season.
By Ewan Malenfant, GAMMA Stringing Machine Service Technician
Lack of Wind
The first and most obvious difference between playing tennis indoors and outdoors is the lack of wind. If you’re used to playing on windy courts like me, you know how much wind affects your game and your strategy on the court. When playing indoors, you are free to focus more on honing your game style, shot selection, and shot tolerance. Something I’ve always enjoyed about playing indoors is the feeling of having more precision on each shot, and the freedom to swing out when you get the opportunity. These changes seem to come more frequently without the disturbance of swirly or gusty wind conditions.Court Speed
One interesting aspect of playing indoors is court speed. Often, but not always, indoor courts will play faster than outdoor courts. This also affects your strategy but also can affect your strokes. If the court is really fast, you’ll need to shorten your backswings to keep up. Mixing in all court play, even some serving, and volleying is a great play on a fast court as well.Low Humidity
Finally, playing indoors usually means a few things; it’s probably a colder time of year, and thus the humidity is probably low. Lower humidity means the ball will fly more, making it feel like the courts are playing faster and you’re hitting harder. To compensate, you may need to increase your tension by 2-4 lbs. You’ll find you can control the ball much better during indoor play with a tighter string bed, at least in my experience. Of course, as with anything else in tennis, everyone has a different comfort zone, and knowing the conditions you’re playing in can help everyone adjust their comfort so you can be successful anywhere you play!By Ewan Malenfant, GAMMA Stringing Machine Service Technician