Sept. 16, 2009

Photo Gallery

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

While construction of the three new outdoor courts at the Baylor Tennis Center might be obvious as you drive by on University Parks Drive, another change isn't quite as noticeable.

The six stadium courts and the other three existing outdoor courts are all being resurfaced at the same time - in essence, giving the facility 12 brand new courts.

"The surface we had before failed. It's peeling and buckling and having a lot of problems," said Matt Knoll, Baylor's Director of Tennis and the head men's coach. "We had pretty much every contractor in this part of the country come and look at them. And if we had 10 guys come and look, we got 10 different opinions on what it would take to make them right."

Ultimately, they went with Patriot Court Systems of Houston to resurface the existing courts at the same time the three new courts are being constructed by CMCT, Ltd., of Waco.

"Hopefully the direction we're going will allow us to have a good surface for three or four years," Knoll said, "so that we don't have to do it as quickly as we did this time. The other part, which really is a positive, is we want all 12 courts to be the same. And if we're just going to resurface three new courts and have nine courts that we resurfaced a couple years, then you really have different surfaces on those courts. And that's not good for competition."

Knoll said his main directive to the contractors was simple: "We're trying to have the slowest courts in the country."

"And this contractor seems to be doing a really good job of respecting that and giving us what we asked for."

While faster services are a better fit for powerful serve-and-volley players, Knoll said slower surfaces like clay make you "construct points more" and develop a better all-around game.

"It's not a coincidence that most of the best players in the world grew up on clay," he said. "It extends the rallies and makes you use the whole court, makes you play defense and makes you play tennis instead of just slapping the ball around. So every single day in practice, with every single point you play, you're getting one more swing at the ball, so that you've got to execute better and develop your game better.

"And then I think it fits our philosophy . We feel like we're going to be the fittest and the most athletic team in the country. So the longer the points last, that obviously plays into our style." Partially due to the construction and resurfacing , Baylor was not able to host the $50,000 USTA Challenger event that was held last year at the center. Sponsorship also was an issue for the tournament, which was originally scheduled to begin with a qualifier this weekend.

"It's funny, but we can't seem to get kind of a permanent spot on the schedule," Knoll said. "We've had a couple of Futures and a couple of Challengers during our time. But we're having a hard time accomplishing that goal of having some kind of pro event every fall, year in and year out, without having to guess if it's going to happen. So this is just another chapter in that. I'm still optimistic that we'll be able to get it back next year or maybe a Futures tournament and find something we can keep."

With 12 outdoor courts now on site, Baylor moves closer to serving as hosts for the final site of the NCAA Championships - an event that has rotated between Tulsa, Okla., Athens, Ga., and College Station, Texas.

"That's always been a goal of ours," Knoll said. "We're still an indoor facility away from feeling like we have a powerful bid for that event. But we've got to do things step by step."

Unlike Tulsa, where "if it rains, you can take five minutes, walk inside and keep playing," Texas A&M doesn't have an indoor facility available in College Station.

"If they were to get a horrible rain storm, then you've got to load up the whole show and drive to Houston," Knoll said. "I wouldn't want to host the event if that was our best option. I just don't feel like we're going to be able to host a caliber championship if we don't have indoor courts here. And the last thing I'd want is for us to get a chance to host that event and have it rain a couple days and leave a really bad taste in everybody's mouth. We don't want to just do it once and have everybody say, `Well, gosh, that just wasn't up to the level,' and then we never get to do it again. We'd like to get in a rotation where we get to do it every three years or so."

Beyond the obvious advantage of being able to host bigger events, adding the three outside courts made daily practices that much easier for the men's and women's teams.

"(Women's coach Joey Scrivano) and I have done a great job of communicating and making these nine courts work," Knoll said. "But the way we've done it is one day the women have the front and the men have the back. So if you've got eight or 10 guys on your team, if you're on the back, you've got to send a couple guys to the stadium side. It's very disjointed. And I know when you get sent to the stadium, you feel like you're in the dog pound and you're kind of by yourself. It just doesn't have a team feel, and you can't coach them effectively, because obviously you can't coach guys that you can't see."

While last weekend's Alumni Match had to be moved from the on-campus Penland courts to an indoor facility in Ennis, Knoll said at least half of the newly surfaced courts are expected to be completed in time for the HEB Baylor Intercollegiate Invitational on Sept. 26-28.

"I don't know that I'd bet my house that all 12 (courts) will be ready by then. I'm certainly optimistic," Knoll said. "We have some other courts at Waco Regional and Penland where we can make it work if necessary. But it would sure be nice if we could use the whole place."