David's Best Tips:

• Planning permission may not be required for building a grass court in your back yard.
• Allthough the stipulated area for a tennis court is 120 feet by 60 feet, 110 by 55 is adequate for most people and can shave thousands off the cost.
• Putting fencing only around the backs of the court saves money and is visually less intrusive.
• Cutting the corners off at 45 degrees doesn't effect play but instead is visually more pleasing and it also trickles the balls to the centre of the court behind the baseline.

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In the UK there are so many tarmac courts it's unbelievable really considering we host Wimbledon. But the grass that I have played on takes a lot of work to maintain, and then when you go onto the continent there's lots of clay. But why is that? Why do people... I'm sure maintenance is a factor ... but why is it that the continentals all use clay and we all use tarmac? Is it just maintenance?

The continental people have a far different approach. You see the maintenance you have on grass court in England.... you mow say twice a week sort of thing. Whereas a clay court you need to drag it, and roll it, and water it after every game practically. And so the maintenance of a clay court, or shale court as it used to be called in England, is extensive. There's nothing worse that playing on a clay court that hasn't been watered... the dust swirls around.... but on the continent they have this procedure that they go through, certainly at the club level. Well it's a procedure, and they carry it out and it works beautifully. But strangely enough the private courts in France are not really... they have road asphalt type courts. On the continent the private courts are nearly always that. It's the clubs where they employ somebody to do the water, etc, and the cleaning of the lines and thing of that nature. But they do require a lot more maintenance because they play on them longer periods of time. There's only one way to have a perfect grass court - you never use it. Directly you start you start using it you start getting little wear and tear problems in patches you see.

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