Phoenix Center Needs Overhaul

Written by: Staff on 14th November 2012

Phoenix Center Needs Overhaul |

The Phoenix area used to have a men’s and women’s pro tournaments in nearby Scottsdale, but they have since left town. However the area still has tons of recreational players, some of whom use the 43-year-old Phoenix Tennis Center, which has fallen into disrepair.

The Phoenix Parks and Recreation department is looking at ways to revive it, but a major facelift could cost nearly $2 million. “We’re very keen on the idea that major tournaments are good for the overall city, good for the Valley, good for that network,” acting Parks Director Jim Burke told the Arizona Republic. “But it’s also good economics.”

The center has 22 courts, but many of them are badly cracked and have torn windscreens. In September, the USTA pulled the 2012 Winter Junior National Championships out of the center after 12 years of play. Tournament director Sally Grabham moved the tournament to other places in the Valley.

“Part of my sanction that I get from (the USTA) for hosting this tournament is that I will provide (venues) that are in a safe and playable condition,” she said. “It has reached the point at the Phoenix Tennis Center that the courts just are not of that caliber. The unfortunate thing is I have years with working with hotels and restaurants in Phoenix,” she said. “It’s a lost revenue.”

A local tennis group has petitioned the city to reinvest in the center and blame the city for letting the center deteriorate.

The Parks and Rec department seems to be responding and have come up with some options for revitalizing the center.

One includes providing $600,000 for resurfacing, new lights and new windscreens that would take about a year; another would cost $1.1 million to rebuild nine courts, resurface the other, put in new lights and buy new windscreens; the third would cost $1.8 million to completely rebuild the center with 25 courts, but that will take three years to complete.

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: 10sballs.com, Phoenix Tennis Center, Phoenix tennis news, Tennis, Usta, Winter Junior National Championships