Court speed

How fast does a court really play?

Every tournament on DeepCourt gets a court speed reading: one number for how much the court helps the server. 100 is the average ATP tournament court that season. Higher is faster, lower is slower.

The best players on fast courts, ranked The best players on slow courts, ranked

Reading the number

Almost every court sits between about 85 and 110, so 5 points is a big difference. Each point adds roughly 6% more aces and a slightly better chance of holding serve.

Very slow< 92Monte Carlo 88,0 · Rome 89,9
Slow92–97Indian Wells 93,2 · Roland Garros 95,3
Average97–103US Open 101,1 · Paris 101,8
Fast103–108Wimbledon 104,8 · Shanghai 104,6
Very fast108+Basel 108,6

Examples are 2025 ATP readings.

Every finished ATP tournament, ranked by court speed

How we work it out

We don’t measure the surface itself. We look at what happens on it: aces and points won on serve, from every match with statistics.

Then we account for who played. Big servers make any court look fast, so we know how good each player is at serving and returning, and ask whether the players served better or worse here than they normally do. If they all served better, the court is fast.

That is why we call it an estimated playing pace: it covers the court and the conditions around it, like the balls, the altitude and the air, as judged by how the tennis actually played.

Why altitude makes courts play faster

Surface matters, but it isn’t everything

Typical ATP readings by surface:

Clay

94,7

Hard (outdoor)

101,9

Grass

104,1

Hard (indoor)

104,6

Courts vary a lot within a surface. Indian Wells, a hard court, reads 93.2, slower than many clay events.

Challengers and ITF events

Challenger and ITF courts usually read lower than ATP courts on the same surface: the typical clay reading is about 95 on the ATP tour, 92 at Challengers and 89 at ITF events. Part of that is the venues, and part is the balls and conditions at those levels. It is still the real pace the tennis is played at there.

When the number updates

Before a tournament: The venue’s average over its past editions, marked “Venue average”.
During it: Updated as matches finish, about every 10 minutes. Until 10 matches have statistics (qualifying counts) it is marked “Early estimate”.
After it: The final reading. If more statistics arrive later, it is recalculated.
Data unavailable: We don’t have enough to say yet, usually a venue with no statistics history or no venue recorded.

Court speed for every tournament

Readings for finished ATP tournaments are free. Live and upcoming tournaments, and every Challenger and ITF event, are part of the Pro plan.

View Pro plan

Reading the number

Almost every court sits between about 85 and 110, so 5 points is a big difference. Each point adds roughly 6% more aces and a slightly better chance of holding serve.

Very slow< 92Monte Carlo 88,0 · Rome 89,9

Slow92–97Indian Wells 93,2 · Roland Garros 95,3

Average97–103US Open 101,1 · Paris 101,8

Fast103–108Wimbledon 104,8 · Shanghai 104,6

Very fast108+Basel 108,6

Examples are 2025 ATP readings.

Every finished ATP tournament, ranked by court speed

How we work it out

We don’t measure the surface itself. We look at what happens on it: aces and points won on serve, from every match with statistics.

That is why we call it an estimated playing pace: it covers the court and the conditions around it, like the balls, the altitude and the air, as judged by how the tennis actually played.

Why altitude makes courts play faster

Challengers and ITF events

When the number updates

Before a tournament

The venue’s average over its past editions, marked “Venue average”.

During it

Updated as matches finish, about every 10 minutes. Until 10 matches have statistics (qualifying counts) it is marked “Early estimate”.

After it

The final reading. If more statistics arrive later, it is recalculated.

Data unavailable

We don’t have enough to say yet, usually a venue with no statistics history or no venue recorded.