“The members, directors and chief executive all recognise the need for investment in, what is, the club’s most important asset”
hollow core aeration programme on a five-yearly basis, which is more than enough for grass courts.”
The onset of spring brings with it a bulk of new work in preparation for the Aegon event and the onset of the grass court season. Graham starts rolling in early spring, keeping the weight at between 1.8 and 2 tonnes. “We have to take care with rolling as our lawns firm up pretty quickly, and it’s easy to overroll and undo all the good work that’s gone before.” The firmness of The Queen’s Club grass courts has been, in no small part, due to the changes wrought by Graham and his father under a commitment to achieve a good bounce. “We’ve relaid the courts using Ongar loam on top of the original silty type fen soil laid a century ago. When we relaid the courts, we found there wasn’t a high clay content, so we couldn’t get it as hard as we wanted, so that prompted the change. Now, there’s that extra level of firmness, which makes the world of difference.”
The Allett, Lloyds Paladin and Dennis FT510 the team use are all made to a 20” cut width to suit tennis stripes. “It’s all about presentation. You never have a white line down the middle of a stripe.” Whilst the grass courts take centre stage throughout the summer season, Queen’s offer the spectrum of playing surfaces. The red clay courts are said to be some of the best in the UK, if not Europe, and visiting professionals like to train on them.
The club’s six shale/clay courts have been a permanent feature for fifty years, although they are a challenge to maintain successfully, Graham admits. “It’s common knowledge that clay courts are difficult to keep right, and few people here really know how to maintain
them properly.” “Luckily, my father was one of the best and taught me well. Now, I make sure all my guys know how to set them up, so we can keep alive our tradition of quality clay provision.”
Members prize the courts highly and enjoy the variety they offer, despite the affect that the weather can have on them. As water binds the surface together, the courts can freeze over in winter but dry out and crack through the summer months as lack of water creates almost dustbowl conditions. Then, it’s a matter of hand watering and nightly irrigation. The courts at Queen’s are laid with the same specification material as those at Roland Garros, host to the French Open, Both sites are supplied by Simeon Sports - Graham importing the clay annually from quarries in Paris at a cost of £500 a tonne. Relaying of the courts was last completed some 15 years ago. “It was a tough job to complete, taking a whole winter to get right,” he recalls. “The most tricky part is the fact that you have to keep them constantly wet, which can be difficult when you’re still in the construction phase. The job involved taking the old clay off the top, overlaying the clinker base with graded ash and replacing with the new clay.” The standard of the surface is testament to the craftsmanship of both Graham and his team and his father before him. The courts are good enough to draw French tennis professionals here to practise on them.
The four artificial grass courts, supplied by Doe Sports, laid with new surfaces last August at a total cost of £65,000, is also ensuring the standard of the alternative playing surfaces stays high. And, surprisingly, says Graham, “we get more compliments on the standard of the artificial courts from our
members than any other. They will often ask where they can get hold of one for their own garden.”
The six outdoor acrylic courts, supplied by Plexipave, offer Graham a far easier maintenance option, with a straightforward resurfacing or recolouring delivering a brand new look, he says.
The indoor provision of six acrylic and four carpeted courts are also heavily used by members and for training juniors, whilst, to boost capacity still further during winter, the club purchased a bubble for fixing over two outdoor courts.
The Queen’s Club holds one of the top positions for grass court tennis - Graham is fortunate to be given an enviable budget by any standards, a supportive grounds team and a board of directors that understands the virtues of positive spending to achieve the highest quality surfaces. Yet, he knows this is a far cry from the state of grass court tennis elsewhere in Britain. “We are lucky here that we would never get rid of the grass courts, as they are the moneyspinners and what attracts our members,” he stresses.
“Unfortunately though, most tennis clubs are run on a shoestring, so they see artificial courts as a more viable financial option and end up getting rid of their grass courts, which they can only use for the summer.”
“If smaller clubs can make money from teaching the whole year round then they’ll go with that. More needs to be done to retain our grass courts. In the UK, we have the best courts and the most skilled groundsmen who know how to look after them. We cannot allow such a quality provision to die out.”
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