She won the last ever match against Jessica Pegula on the banned surface which is never used any more

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Up until 2018, there was a fourth tennis surface, in addition to hard, clay, and grass courts.

Fans of tennis are used to seeing ATP and WTA stars compete on hard, clay, and grass, but they may not have seen too much action on carpet courts.

The now-defunct surface was a staple on tour in years gone by, with the ATP and WTA Finals taking place on carpet for much of the late 1900’s.

The surface was described as a ‘textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product’, and was one of the fastest courts on the calendar.

The use of carpet courts on the ATP Tour came to an end in 2008, with Robin Soderling’s win in Lyon the final time the men played on the surface.

ATP spokesperson Kris Dent said that the most important reason for the change was to standardize indoor competitions to hard courts, which he said would reduce the risk of injury.

The women’s game saw carpet court tournaments for another decade before one woman won the final ever match on the surface in 2018.

Pauline Parmentier: The woman who won the last ever carpet court tennis match

The 2018 Coupe Banque Nationale was set to be the final ever tournament played on a carpet court.

The WTA International tournament (Now WTA 250), in Canada, featured several big names, such as Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, and Ons Jabeur.

Whilst Pegula made her way to the final in Quebec, it was a Frenchwoman who proved too much for her in the final.

Pauline Parmentier battled her way through to the final, before taking down Pegula in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.

A surface that had seen the likes of Stan Smith, Bjorn Borg, Martina Navratilova, and Steffi Graf lift trophies on in the past, added one last name to the list, as Parmentier won the final ever carpet tournament.

It was her first title on the surface, having won two clay titles and one hard court trophy during her career to date.

Parmentier’s career was really one of two halves, having won her first WTA title in Uzbekistan in 2007, shortly followed by another in Austria one year later.

Then came a decade-long wait for her third title, when she finally won in Istanbul in 2018, before winning the final ever carpet court tournament later that same year.

Perhaps the highlight of her career came at the 2019 Federation Cup, where Parmentier was a member of the French team who won the nation’s third title at the event.

Parmentier won one, and lost two of her matches in the World Group, as France eventually took down Australia 3-2 in the final.

The Frenchwoman reached a career-high ranking of 40th in the world and retired from the sport after losing in the first round of the 2020 French Open.

Have there been any other surfaces used in tennis?

The three main surfaces, and carpet, are what most tennis fans will be familiar with, but there was in fact one more, that used to host ATP and WTA tournaments.

Wood courts were the predecessor to carpet courts, and were seen in use until the early 1970s.

Tournaments such as the Scandinavian Indoor Championships, the British Covered Court Championships, and the London Professional Championships were all held on wood courts.

Australian legend Rod Laver enjoyed a lot of success on wood courts, taking home 18 titles on the surface.

It seems highly unlikely that we will see a return to either wood or carpet courts, but the champions of the past have certainly written their names into the history books.

For now, however, we look ahead to the 2025 tennis season, focusing on grass, clay, and hard court action.