Comfort Zones: Design that Enhances Player and Fan Experiences

By Tim Gerrits
Sports tennis courts

Your tennis facility's design should enhance the player and fan experiences - and can help grow the sport

Well-designed tennis courts go beyond the playing surface. Thinking about your tennis facility holistically – whether indoor or outdoor – can improve the experience for players, coaches, instructors, and spectators.

In an ongoing effort to increase tennis participation, tennis providers need to both attract new people to the sport and retain the players we have. Well-designed facilities can be a part of this solution. Attracting young people to the sport means catering not only to existing players, but also to their families, who are often spending an extended amount of time at your facility in support of an athlete. Making that experience a positive one through design and amenities should be a part of an outreach strategy for your facility and even the sport at large.

A well-designed facility can help with recruiting to improve enrollment in your school, academy, camp or club. Better design and amenities can attract high-caliber tournaments and other events to your facility, potentially providing an additional source of revenue that offsets upgrade investment.

People enjoy spending time in well-designed spaces. When you are thinking about making improvements to your facility, consider some of these features, which can make a positive impact on your own tennis community.

This article was originally published in the Tennis Industry publication, September / October 2019.

Tim Gerrits, LLA, CLARB, ASLA, LEED AP

Tim Gerrits leads our Sports practice and has combined a background in landscape architecture with a passion for sports and competition. With over 25 years of experience, Tim has designed more than 45 tennis facilities, including over 175 post-tensioned concrete courts.