The clay courts at Roland-Garros are iconic, but a lot more goes into them than meets the eye.
Over the last few weeks, fans have been treated to a superb French Open with the finals coming up this weekend.
Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev are competing for the Men’s Singles title while Iga Swiatek takes on Jasmine Paolini in the Women’s showpiece.
They will all take to the clay for one last time and when they do, some may question how the court is actually made.
talkSPORT.com has taken a look at what they are made of…
What are the clay courts made of?
The bright orange courts are composed of multiple elements.
There are five layers to the surface and each is around 80 centimetres deep.
According to the Roland-Garros website, the first layer is made up of stones, then gravel, clinker (volcanic residue), limestone and crushed brick.
It’s that final layer of crushed brick that gives the French Open courts their colour.
This stems from an original method of creating the courts which Renshaw Brothers thought up in 1880.
They decided to use powdered terracotta to cover the grass on the court that was wilting in the heat.
Since then, some things have changed with technology advancing, however, the concept remains the same.
The full breakdown of the composition is below:
- Bottom – Drain
- Crushed gravel – at least 30 centimetres
- Clinker (volcanic residue) – 7/8 centimetres
- Crushed white limestone – 6/7 centimetres
- Top – Red brick dust – 1-2 millimetres
News Summary:
- What are the clay courts at the French Open actually made of? Iconic orange Roland-Garros surface explained
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