What liesbeneathUp close: Tiger Turf’s Padel 11 is amonofilament fibre surface.In the last issue of The Bandeja we looked at how different lightingcan affect your play. In this issue, with help from Tiger Turf, weapply the same thinking to court turf, which varies in length, type,colour, sandiness and speed of play.Artificial grass surfaces for padelare traditionally manufactured usingtwo different shapes of yarn fibre- fibrillated or monofilament. Bothoffer ball bounce consistency buthave different playing characteristicswhich can make each suited todifferent player abilities.• Monofilament is a single strandyarn heated to become texturised.After heating the straight yarnbecomes curly and shorter.Monofilament surfaces are usuallylower in pile height and offer aslightly slower speed of play, soperhaps better for beginners.• Fibrillated yarn is straight with asingle end. It stands up straight andreturns to its shape after contactwith a ball or foot. These surfacescan have a higher pile height anda slightly faster pace of play. Theyoffer good durability, with fibresrecovering to their original straightposition after contact with a player’sfoot or the ball. This surface wouldbe suitable for intermediate to eliteplayers who have experience andenjoy a fast-paced game.On to the turf goes sand - a silicasand infill used to improve stabilityand durability. The texturised fibreshelp keep the sand in place duringplay. Artificial grass manufacturerscreating padel systems have theirown guidelines on sand applicationdepending on the height of thesurface, speed of play required andshape of yarn. Usually, the more sandadded, the slower play will be.A surface may be selected by clubsdue to the types of players they have,budget, style and speed of play or justpersonal preference. Padel surfacescome in a range of colours, from rustand green to blue, pink and purple.LTA guidelines state a court should besingle tone, unlike traditional tenniscourts which can have differentcolour inner and outer playing areas.The LTA also recommends thatpadel surfaces are manufacturedin accordance with the UNE 41958 INstandard, which regulates surfacesfor sports areas. A recommendedproduct specification for an artificialgrass surface for padel might looklike this:• Pile height : 10-15mm• Dtex: 9,000-10,000• Yarn type: monofilament/fibrillated• Infill: silica sand• Primary backing: polypropylene• Secondary backing: latex• Stitch rate: 40,000 – 60,000The testing for a padel court is similarto a tennis court as it can be givena Court Pace Rating (CPR) via the ITF(International Tennis Federation). ACPR rating specifies the speed of playfor the particular surface. Testing forsynthetic surfaces is carried out inhouseat the ITF.Dtex (decitex): the unit ofmeasurement for artificial grassfibres, measuring the mass per gramof 10,000m of grass yarn. Dtex isimportant because the higher the dtexof a single filament, the thicker thefilament will be which means it is moredurable and longer lasting.Infill: material that is added to thegrass after installation to offerballast, stability and to help thesurface last longer.Primary backing: the material theyarn is tufted into. This backing iscoated with the secondary backing,latex. If you look in between the grassfibres you may be able to see theprimary backing. If you turn the grassover, you can see and feel the latexand how it has coated the stitches.The latex backing keeps all the fibres inplace and allows for easy installation.Stitch rate: the number of stitches per10cm (turn your grass over and youcan see and measure the stitches).The higher the number of stitches, thedenser the grass will be.Both the LTA and SAPCA offer guidanceon the construction of padel courtsthat covers planning, building,surfacing guidance and aftercare.They can be found here:https://www.lta.org.uk/4ad2a4/siteassets/play/padel/file/lta-padelcourt-guidance.pdfhttps://sapca.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CoP_for_padel_courts_v3_040321.pdf76 thebandeja.com
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