Eric Vainer, a credentialed pedorthist serving Brooklyn’s PALA Community Care as administrative director, enjoys staying active by playing tennis. Eric Vainer plays both doubles and singles tennis.
2. Eric Vainer, a credentialed pedorthist serving
Brooklyn’s PALA Community Care as administrative
director, enjoys staying active by playing tennis. Eric
Vainer plays both doubles and singles tennis.
The sport of tennis can be played on a variety of
unique surfaces, including clay and grass. These two
surfaces encourage different styles of play, one of the
reasons why achieving the Channel Slam in
professional tennis is such a difficult task. The
Channel Slam is an informal accomplishment
attributed to a player who wins the French Open on
clay in Paris, France, before subsequently winning the
Wimbledon trophy on grass in London, England,
during the same season.
3. Grass tennis courts, like those found at Wimbledon,
play more quickly than almost any other recognized
court surface. Balls do not bounce very high on grass,
making slice shots an advisable attack. Clay courts,
meanwhile, represent the slowest surface on the
professional tennis tour. Tennis balls bounce much
higher on clay and top spin shots can be highly
effective.
The differences between the clay and grass surfaces
are amplified by the fact that no two other major
tournaments are held so close together. Four months
separate the opening rounds of the Australian Open
and French Open, while Wimbledon and the U.S. Open
begin two months apart.
4. During some seasons, the first round of the
French Open and Wimbledon can occur with just
30 days between. To date only 10 players have
achieved tennis’s Channel Slam, beginning with
Australian great Rod Laver in 1969. Billie Jean
King became the first female player to achieve
the feat during the Open Era in 1972, while Bjorn
Borg became the first multi-Channel Slam
winner, taking both crowns three times each
between 1978 and 1980. Steffi Graf owns a
record four Channel Slams, while Rafael Nadal
most recently achieved the mark in 2010.