Quality of USTA Tourney Courts

[Doc Hollidae]

I've played 4 USTA Tournaments now and I've been very disappointed in the quality of the courts. 3 out of the 4 tournaments I've played at have had major cracks and slopes on their courts.

Two of the clubs with slopes were slanted so bad that you could roll the ball from the duece side to the ad side and it'd come back to you. It becomes pretty ridiculous after a while playing on these courts because it effects the path, bounce, and spin of the ball.

Has anyone else experienced these problems?

[goober]

Overall I would say the courts I have played on have been good to excellent. Most of the tourneys have been in country clubs/private clubs which always keep their courts in good condition or public tennis facilities which are a step below as far as maintenance but still acceptable. There have been two tourneys I have been to where the courts were very in bad condition with large cracks, broken nets, ect. I have not returned to those tourneys.

[Doc Hollidae]

All 3 have been private clubs.

[zapvor]

that is terrible to hear. i have been on a couple courts that were awful. hole in net, cracks along entire baseline, uneven ground,crap,trash,etc.

[goober]

Originally Posted by Doc Hollidae

All 3 have been private clubs.

That's is surprising since private clubs have paying members who expect a certain level of maintenance and can take their business elsewhere. I know I certainly would not pay for membership at such a place unless it was the only tennis facility in town.

[Serve 'em hard]

I know a club where the har-tru surface was bad one year and great the next. Maybe the members complained and they were forced to fix it up.

[10ispro]

If you can find other players with the same sentiments You can file a grievance with your USTA Sectional Adult tournament Coordinator in regard to poor tournament conditions and a couple things may happen. Usually if the courts are found to be in disrepair and not fit for play, the tournament will be pulled from the location. Second thing that could happen is USTA could ask the the club to repair the courts if they want to continue hosting tournaments.

I have seen a couple tournaments pulled from Clubs or public parks--but the major downside is that it often just means its once less tournament per year b/c there is already a shortage of accommodating facilities.

[penpal]

I was surprised at first to read that these poor conditions existed at private clubs, until I remembered the club at which I belong has 4 outdoor courts that are essentially unused because they are unusable. We as members tend to ignore/forget about them. To give credit, the management of the club does not include these courts when hosting tournaments.

As you can tell from my signature, I manage a site where players can submit reviews of tennis courts in the U.S. Based on the reviews that have been submitted to date, I would say that your experience with private clubs is the exception, rather than the rule. For the most part, the private clubs that have been reviewed have received very high marks, with public facilities usually rating a level below - although there are evidently some VERY nice public facilities across the U.S.

Where are you located Doc?