Summer Sports - Tennis
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As they are clipped in place and there is a little bit of air under them, we will then send teams under the covers to hold them off the playing surface until there is enough air to hold them in place
We act as tent poles underneath covers to ensure we do everything we can to keep the court dry!
Grounds Manager Dave Lawrence repairing a spot of racquet abuse - our biggest frustration!
We still get instances where players and their racquets become temporarily estranged! Unfortunately, the court normally bears the brunt of their frustration, meaning we will have to repair the surface ready for the following day
” 62 I PC JUNE/JULY 2015
Manager John Lawrence will ensure that all the teams are in position, know exactly what they should be doing and have their radios turned on so that they can hear any potential instruction from Dave at the top of the stands. John will also go on to court, if play pauses, for the tournament referee to inspect the court. This means John is normally the one getting booed as the spectators in the stands realise that we may be thinking of pulling the covers on! However, John’s role on the court is to act as an intermediary between Dave and the tournament referee, who we have a fantastic relationship with. We are trusted to make our own decisions on covering, and so John will be keeping the referee up to date on what Dave can see and what his plans are. It’s then just a case of waiting for the
inevitable! Dave will give the call from the top of the stands and the court covering teams will set off into a blur of action! We have times we consider acceptable for covering courts, though we always tell the court covering teams that our expectation is quicker than anything they manage - even if they have surpassed our targets! However, the job isn’t finished there. As
soon as the covers go on, there are decisions to be made. Do we clip the covers in place? Do we inflate the covers? How quickly might they be coming off? And, most importantly, how soon after they come off will we be able to start play again? All of this has to be factored into decisions that have to be made in seconds. We’ll have the tournament referee, WTA supervisors and television producers desperate for answers. Obviously, this is much easier when we have prolonged rain, as the decision can be deferred. However, as is normally the case, the interruption will just be for a quick shower. In order to make these decisions, Dave will
remain at the top of the stand, monitoring the weather and communicating his decisions through the radio. As these are relayed, John and the full-time ground staff then set about organising the court covering
team. We do everything we can to ensure that players get back on court as quickly as possible. If the covers can’t come straight off, then we will tend to clip them in place and start to inflate them. The longer the weight of the cover is left sat on the court, the more moisture will be drawn to the surface and the wetter the court will get. This explains why we do not cover unless
we absolutely have to. The common perception from the public is that, when we pull the covers on, the court will be kept perfectly dry. However, there are occasions when it is better to let a little bit of rain on to the court rather than pulling the cover on, as we can keep the court drier by dew brushing the surface rather than covering. That said, there are occasions where the
covers to have to go on and be inflated. Where this is the case, as soon as they are clipped in place and there is a little bit of air under them, we will then send teams under the covers to hold them off the playing surface until there is enough air to hold them in place. It can take between ten and fifteen minutes for the covers to fully inflate but, in that time, we could draw enough moisture to the surface for there to be a significant delay when the covers are eventually removed. By holding the cover up, we stop this happening, keeping the court dry and reducing the length of the rain delay. The public are very understanding when the covers go on, if it is raining. However, they are less forgiving when there is a delay for no perceived reason! By taking the actions we do, players can be heading to the court within five minutes of the covers coming off. The last part of this chain of events is
taking the covers off. Once the covers are settled, or the rain stops - whichever comes first - we swing in to action, removing any standing water from the covers (this is done by going underneath and literally lifting/pushing it off), getting the air out from underneath them, taking the covers off, and then setting the courts back up ready for play. When the decision is made to do this,
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