Tennis players in the Quad Cities can now play the sport on grass courts.
The Quad City Tennis Club at 1528 47th Avenue in Moline is opening three lawn courts to the public this week.
President of the Quad City Tennis Foundation, Chris Ontiveros, says that grass courts are rare nowadays, with most courts being hard surfaces like concrete.
“We asked ourselves that, and we couldn't get an answer: ‘why concrete?’ No one knows. No one knows because all the people that were involved in that decision have passed,” Ontiveros said in an interview with WVIK. “But I think it's because it was uniform for indoor; you really didn't have indoor grass courts, but prior to 1970, all tennis courts were grass.”
He said grass courts today are mostly found in the northeast.
“I think as a tennis player with grass, it's the original surface for the game,” Director of Communications Devin Hansen said in an interview with WVIK. “So [for] a lot of us lifelong players, we've all played on concrete and hard court surfaces. So to have this opportunity to play on the original surface of grass, it brings about the thoughts of tradition, the history of the game. It's the way the game was meant to be played, on grass. So it's just harkening back to all the history and beautiful traditions of tennis.”
Since the courts are more prone to damage, the club asks that all users wear flat tennis shoes to avoid ripping up the court, or play barefoot.
Hansen said the maintenance of the courts is no different than managing golf courses.
“[W]e're focusing on the moisture, cutting it at the right height, balancing rainfall from nature with what we do with irrigation,” Hansen said. [K]eeping it nice and green with the fertilizer, etc., keeping the weeds out.”
Those interested can find pricing on the club’s website.
“You walk in here, you feel like you're walking into the All England Club at Wimbledon,” Hansen said. “[F]or me, it was on my bucket list to always play grass. And here it is, right here in the Quad Cities. So it's just a real, real treat.”
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