End of Season
Maintenance This involves renovating the court to aid recovery from the past season, and lay the foundations for the following season in some seven months time.
Where there are a number of tennis courts, it is generally a good idea to gradually take them out of play one, or a few, at a time. This allows play to continue for a little longer, which will, invariably, please the members. If there are too many courts to work on in a sequence then it could look, from a player’s perspective, as though the groundsman has been overzealous in closing all the courts at the same time.
Other Renovation Work
Baselines can become severely worn, and it may be appropriate to turf these areas.
The use of germination sheets can be of benefit, particularly on very thin areas. However, care needs to be taken as fusarium can be encouraged due to the increased humidity and temperature that typically occurs beneath a germination sheet.
Typical Renovation Programme • Irrigate to ‘soften’ the soil profile
• Scarify in several (3 or more) directions
• Mow the grass to 6-8mm, removing all clippings
• Aerate by appropriate means - this could be anything from deep solid spiking to at least 100mm depth, to sarel spiking to about 40mm depth, or even hollow-tining. It is important that the court is suitably moist, but not wet, to allow for good tine penetration when carrying out the aeration work
• Overseed and possibly drill the seed into the surface
• Turf the base lines if required
• Topdress: Generally this might range from 1.5 to 3 kg/m²; depending upon the type of aeration work carried out. Work the topdressing into the sward and soil surface
• Irrigate to ensure adequate germination takes place
Ideally, all this renovation will have been carried out by late September - mid October. This should still allow for adequate germination and establishment before cold soil and air temperatures become unsuitable for good establishment.
Post Renovation Work
Following renovation, the court will need to be nurtured from the end of September to December to assist in the development of a compact sward.
Typical work will include the following:
• keeping the grass topped to around 12-15mm, or as desired
• regular drag-brushing • switching to remove dew
• earthworm control (this may typically be through drag-brushing or chemical control)
• moss control
• watching out for disease and controlling as necessary
• aeration (solid and slit/chisel tines), and
• removing leaves and twigs 114
Stuart Smith Paul Woodford Antony Knight
Grass court with evidence of drainage work
be cut with rotary pedestrian mowers. The courts are aerated twice a week between September and April. A wide range of tines are used to alter the depth and size of holes produced.
The courts will be fed with autumn and winter feeds as and when required, applying a combination of granular and liquid products. Spring renovations consist of some light scarification work to remove lateral shoots and any dead material, followed by some overseeding to re-populate any bare areas. A dose of spring fertiliser is applied to help kick start some early growth.
The courts are mown with Dennis FT510 cassette mowers maintaining a height of cut of 12mm; brought down to around 9mm for club matches and 7mm for tournaments. They are mown daily during the growing season. All the grass courts have a pop-up watering system and are watered as required. All grass courts are
marked out using a transfer wheel line marker, always stringing out the lines prior to marking, which takes about forty five minutes to complete.
Any weeds are spot
A view across the artificial courts
treated or removed by hand. Every morning the courts are
brushed/dragmatted to remove dew. They suffer very little disease, with only an occasional outbreak of red thread, which is usually controlled by effective feeding. Pre-season rolling is
carried out on the courts in spring, beginning with cylinder mowers, gradually building up the weight until they are able to get their one tonne Bomag roller onto the courts. Match preparation for the courts involves reducing the height of cut, timing the use of fertilisers, water applications and four to five passes with the Bomag roller before finally marking out.
No water will be applied while the courts are in play. A number of covering systems are employed to protect the courts. As for the rest of the courts, the American fast dry clay courts need brushing twice a day to redistribute the surface clay materials, and they are watered to dampen them down. The acrylic courts are swept each day and deep cleaned twice a year. The sand dressed carpet courts are brushed daily to keep clean, whilst again ensuring
the sand infill material is evenly spread. These courts are also deep cleaned using specialist machinery hired in from Sweepfast. The tarmacadam court is kept clean and washed periodically.
As for machinery, although their shed is crammed full, a lot of it is old and tired. Stuart is, therefore, in the process of seeking funds to replace much of it with new and more effective equipment. They have recently acquired a new Ransomes Jacobsen Eclipse triple mower and a Dennis FT5120 cassette mower. There are plans for a new garage/machinery shed when the new build gets under way, and the new proposed indoor courts will have a large basement area which will be utilised for storage space. With over 3,000
members, the courts are in constant use every day. Every year the club also holds the prestigious ‘Aegon Classic’ tennis event that, this year, has attracted the attendance of Maria Sharapova, along with many other top women players, making it look set to be another top quality tournament.
Under the stewardship of Robert Bray, the club is
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