Har-Tru Australia?

If you happen to read the Sidney Morning Herald you have probably noticed that Australia is making a major commitment to training players on clay. Take Robert Grant’s April 28 article for instance, titled, “Aussie Tennis Aims to Dominate on Clay”

(http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/aussie-tennis-aims-to-dominate-on-clay-20100428-trx1.html).

In this article the author reports that, “the move to encourage Australia's best players to devote as much time to the clay court circuit as the hard court events is the key to breaking back into the men's top 10.” The trick for the folks down under is that the climate is quite arid, water is a very scarce commodity, and managing real clay has so far proved impractical. Now however, Tennis Australia has officially approved the Har-Tru surface with the HydroCourt sub-surface irrigation system as an accepted product for facilities interested in installing clay. This mean that facilities that choose to install HydroCourt will be eligible for funding from Tennis Australia. No courts have been installed yet but there is considerable interest at facilities in Sydney, Tasmania and Perth.

How about a clay court circuit in the US played on Har-Tru in February? It's time.

The Passing of an Industry Legend

It was with great sadness that laid down my iPhone this weekend and reflected a while on our company.

I had just received word that our founder, Robert “Bob” Lee (pictured right) had passed at the age of 85. Bob was a real leader in the tennis industry. In 1964 he left the Har-Tru Corporation to start Lee Tennis here in Charlottesville, VA. As the story goes, he would often travel US Rt. 29 South from Har-Tru’s headquarters in MD on route to points south in Virginia, the Carolina’s and Georgia. During those lonely and lengthy drives in the 50’s and 60’s, Bob would notice that the asphalt roads in and around Charlottesville, VA were of a green hue. From that, he concluded that there must be a natural green stone source in the area, and after a little research, discovered a green basalt quarry owned by Luck Stone Corporation existed just miles from Thomas Jefferson’s home at the base of Monticello Mountain.

The found knowledge of another greenstone quarry, that much closer to the ever-growing coastal markets for clay court tennis in FL, GA and SC forced Bob to consider branching out on his own and away from the Har-Tru Corporation where by the early 1960’s he had advanced the role of Vice President. So by 1964, Bob, armed with a little money, a few potential customers, and a handshake agreement to supply him Greenstone from the Luck family, started the Robert Lee Company (it later became Lee Tennis Products). He then pieced together a small plant to screen fines out of the ¼” minus material Luck was already producing in their Shadwell Quarry and within a decade was a real player in the tennis surfacing business.

Over the next 34 years, Bob saw Lee Tennis grow into the largest clay court materials supplier in the US…overtaking the crown from the leading brand, and his previous employer Har-Tru. His commitment to quality, his work ethic, and his integrity, made him a man that most wanted to do business with.

Even though Bob retired in 1998 and sold the company to Luck Stone, his impact on the industry is still felt today. In fact last December, he and a handful of other gentleman were awarded the American Sports Builders Association Industry Merit award for their visionary efforts in starting the then, United States Tennis and Track Builders Association back in the 1960’s. And it wasn’t but a few weeks ago, at the USTA’s Annual Meeting that I had no less than 5 or 6 people ask how Bob was doing and how much they missed seeing him.

If you ever sat down and listened to Bob, you are smarter for the time spent. I, like many, will miss Bob. I will miss his commitment for not taking short –cuts, his can-do attitude, his assuredness, and his humor…and all that great stories of barnstorming the US in the early days of the tennis construction industry.

Bob, rest in peace old friend…you will be missed by many.

Randy Futty - GM, Lee Tennis Court Products

A Short History of the US Clay Court Championships

Found this short history of the US Clay Court Championships on the Supernetters blog - http://supernetters-teejohn.blogspot.com/2009/12/14us-mens-clay-court-championships.html. Its amazing to me that this is the only men's ATP clay event in the US. If the governing body of our sport is truly committed to bringing clay into the mix and inspiring our young players to spend time on this surface that will have to change.

It seems to me that there is a clear opportunity in the schedule. After the Australian we have a mini hard court season in the US with San Jose, Memphis, Delray Beach, Indian Wells and Miami. Meanwhile the clay court players are getting entrenched on their favorite surface in places like Vina del Mar, Costa do Sauipe, Buenos Aires and Acapulco. Why not transition one or two more US events to clay and give our guys a chance to play at home? I can't believe Federer or Nadal or any of the Europeans or South Americans would complain if Miami went to clay. A few might even stay to play in Houston.

Building a Clay Court - Learning First Hand

These are exciting times for Lee Tennis! We are installing a HydroCourt at our manufacturing facility and we are doing the work ourselves. In fact the surface went down Friday and the tapes will go down today.

One of the reasons for installing the court is to be able to test new products and new technology. This court will be a learning laboratory for us for everything from maintenance equipment to irrigation systems. We have very generous clubs in Charlottesville, VA that have aided us with our testing on many occasions but this can be burdensome for them and inefficient for us trying to monitor things from a distance. Now we can test and make adjustments at any time quickly and efficiently.

We also used this experience so associates could learn first-hand how our products are used by tennis court builders, tennis court owners, teaching professionals, maintenance professionals and tennis players. We believe that this will lead to innovations in our practices and products that will make the experience of building and owning a clay court simpler and more rewarding for everyone involved.

Lastly, this court will provide a platform for our associates to learn more about the game of tennis. Tennis has such a large impact in the health and well-being of people of all ages and backgrounds. It brings tremendous joy, good health, treasured friendships and character to individuals' lives. We want to have a piece of that internally to help us become better students of and advocates for the game.

For pictures of the court at various stages of construction visit our Facebook page - Lee Tennis. It can be accessed directly from www.playtheclay.com.