There certainly are a lot of shoes out there. A lot of good shoes and a lot of bad shoes as well. Here are some hints to give you some ideas of what you might look for when deciding on a particular shoe.

Get a snug fit and factor in stretch as the shoes will loosen up. You will need about 5 millimetres between your toes and the front of the shoe, this will prevent the horrible jamming of the toes when stopping quickly which can be very painful. Also make sure you have a non-marking sole.

Be court specific. Maybe you'll have to buy two pares so that you don't wear the profile off your clay or grass court shoes by playing on the hard courts. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see shoe descriptions and examples.

Whilst brand loyalty can be a good thing with fitting it may not be appropriate in terms of quality or value for money, so ask your pro or ask around at your club and don't listen totally to what someone in the shoe shop tells you, they generally can't be trusted.

A friend of mine was sold a cross-trainer for tennis because she said to the sales person that she would also like to use them for walking. Because these shoes have quite sharp angular edges they tend to catch on lateral movements and therefore the chances of rolling an ankle are higher. Most Cross-trainers are designed for running in straight lines and are very dangerous for tennis!

Shoes with extra ankle support and a toe drag guard.

Get heal & ankle supports for ankle injury prone players. i.e. high tops or lace able ankle supports fitted to shoes or use pre-laced supports that are then inserted into the shoe. If you drag your toe, get shoes with a protected toe.

Leather uppers give a more "moulded" feel but in thinner made shoes like Reabock, the all-leather upper can be restricting on a broad foot.

Choose a shoe for the climate you play in.
i.e. leather and mesh combo upper in high humidity and try to keep shoe weight to a minimum as you will be carrying them for quite a few K's.

Test the bend point. As seen below, the shoe should bend directly over the ball of your foot when compressed from end to end.

Buy last years models; they are often as good and sometimes better than newer models and you save big time $.

TIP. After play take out your inner soles and air them as well as your shoes for a fresh feel and to minimise the possibility of bacterial and fungal growth. There are also shoe sprays on the market that help keep your shoes fresh.

Point of Concern

Some manufactures are notorious for using dubious employment principals in order to save money in the production stage. If you are up to speed on these issues and if they concern you, have a look around and you will realise just how many good shoes there are available on the market of equal or better quality.

What shoes suit what courts?

Clay courts with slide

The new breed in clay / sliding court shoes are sharp edged herring bone that cover the entire sole and even roll up on the side of the shoe to give maximum grip and an "even or measurable" slide characteristic. The idea being that the clay will fall out after each step in order to allow maximum grip on each consecutive step. Sharp Herring bone bite better, but wear out faster. A softer material is used for maximizing drag.

Hard court

Due to the stop/start nature of hard court tennis, it is very important to get a quality shoe. Think of your future! Durability, shock absorption coupled with good ankle support and overall comfort. Most profiles will work quite well but most won't last too long. Notice the turning circle on the shoe above. This puts the most amount of rubber where you need it with the freedom to move it. The brands that offer a guarantee on the sole are normally very good. Addidas Torsion is a great buy with its six-month guarantee. Kswiss shoes are very good though a little heavy however what you gain in quality far outweighs the weight issue.

Grass court shoes

Scuds Grass Court Shoes

These grass court shoes are only available to the pro's. This shoe did to grass court tennis what the winged keel did to Americas Cup yachting. The shoes have hundreds of tiny nodules that bite into the grass to give an unprecedented sure footing. The shoe that was invented for Borg to play Wimbledon and with out a doubt contributed to him winning his 5 Wimbledon crowns. Because of their shore footing (and consequential abrasiveness) some grass court clubs have banned them but not Wimbledon although they have insisted on modifications. The next best thing is the Addidas Resolution model. I haven't actually used them yet, though I have seen it and the profile looks great and compared to what's otherwise available it's for sure a winner. (And yes Mr Addidas I could do with a pare 45.5).

Indoor carpet

European indoor carpet shoes have a "racing slick" bottom, absolutely void of any profile whatsoever, this allows some slide and (somehow) have exceptional grip. I don't have a picture of these but just imagine a baby's bum stuck to the underside of a pare of shoes.