Although Major Walter Clopton Wingfield patented a hourglass shaped court in 1874 as part of his “New and Improved Court for Playing the Ancient Game of Tennis”, most tennis courts throughout history have been rectangular, measuring 78 feet long, 36 feet wide (27 feet for singles), with service lines 21 feet from the net. Grass courts are the most traditional tennis courts as the sport gained popularity on lawns of British aristocracy, hence lawn tennis.  Clay courts are generally made of crushed shale stone or brick and are popular in Europe and Latin America.  Hard courts are generally made of synthetic layers laid on top of concrete or asphalt and are popular throughout the rest of the world.  Although we all know that the Wimbledon is played on grass and the French Open on clay, you may be surprised to know that the Australian Open was played on grass until switching to hard court in 1988, and the US Open was played on grass from 1881-1974 and clay from 1975-1977 until switching to hard court. 

The varsity girls tennis team hosted Las Lomas on Thursday on the hard courts of Acalanes on Senior Night. Prior to the match, seniors Parker Grenby, Lilou Picard, Olivia Dawkins, Liv Heglie, Emily Jones, Jacqueline Kuhner, Anna MacLeod, and Nicole Parlett were honored with their families.

Once the matches began, the team unfortunately fell 6-3 as an impressive 3-0 sweep on the doubles side delivered entirely by seniors couldn’t offset the 0-6 record on the singles side. The Line 1 doubles team of Olivia and Lilou won 6-1, 7-5, the Line 2 team of Anna and Jacqueline won 6-2, 7-5, and the Line 3 team of Liv and Emily won 6-0, 2-6, 10-3 (tiebreaker). On the singles side, seniors Nicole and Parker played Lines 5 and 6 respectively and fought hard, but ultimately fell to their opponents as did the other singles players.

The team hits the road for their last match of the regular season against Miramonte on Tuesday, October 17 at 4pm.