If you’re looking to build a tennis facility, you are faced with a lot of options for tennis surfaces, maintenance equipment, accessories, fencing, and lighting. Here are some questions to consider as you think about what type of benches, court cleaning tool, return nets, and other tennis court equipment you will need.
Choosing a Surface
When you build a tennis court, you can choose from natural grass, clay, synthetic turf, or a hard court made from asphalt or concrete.
Grass Courts
Of course, grass provides the softest surface and the fastest play speeds. Unfortunately, grass courts are very difficult both to build and maintain and require constant effort in mowing, weed control, and constantly re-marking the lines. Most places that maintain a grass court hire a golf course maintenance company to take care of it for them.
Clay Courts
Clay courts are the most popular intermediate service. they are especially popular where amateurs will play because of the slower ball bounce they offer. Learning to play on the clay court has some advantages, and the United States Tennis Association now has its players train on clay courts. Clay courts are also shock-absorbing and less harmful to players in the long run than hard surfaces. However, the clay court requires quite a bit of maintenance and lots of water.
Hard Surfaces
Hard surfaces can be built with cushion or without question and can be colored. These are the lowest maintenance court available and yet, if they include cushion, they still give a little bit of a softer feel. There are several different cushion types available each of which will affect the speed of play. Uncushioned hard courts require almost no maintenance and are the most popular choice for those who need to save money on their court. However, the surface is very hard on the players’ legs and backs, and it will also reflect heat during the summer in a very uncomfortable way.
Sythetic Turf
Synthetic turf requires less maintenance than a clay court, a mid-soft surface, and slow play. They are not as soft as a clay court, but also require no water or daily grooming. They can also be installed over hard courts fairly easily in order to improve the hard court.
Choosing Accessories
Some of the accessories your tennis court will need include benches, court organizers, shoe cleaners, and scorekeepers.
Benches
Benches are a necessity for any tennis court because of the difficulty of the sport. It’s important to provide benches for players to rest on between games or between sets. Benches can also be used by spectators in the informal games. Tennis court benches come in a variety of styles and colors.
Court Organizers
Organizers give players a place to put their personal effects while they play. This can be as simple as racks of lockers or as personalized as storage trays that mount to the ends of each net post. However you put them in, they are important for keeping your player’s belongings safe and secure.
Shoe Cleaners
This is a bit of a judgment call and it will depend on what type of surface you’re using, but especially if you have a clay surface you will want people to be able to clean off their shoes after using the court. There are all kinds of shoe cleaners available at a variety of prices.
Scorekeepers
Finally, if you or your players are serious about playing tennis, you’re going to want a way to keep score. The simplest scorekeepers mount on net posts or on the nets themselves. Providing scorekeepers will attract more serious players to your court and facilities.
having the right to tennis courts and tennis facilities will attract the more serious players to your court. This, in turn, is good for your bottom line. You can go almost as cheap or as expensive as you like when it comes to benches, court surfaces, lighting, and 100 other things for your tennis court facilities. Think about your ultimate goals as well as your present-day budget and plan accordingly.