Tennis Court Construction Company – Tennis Court Builders

The five secrets of building a great tennis court that will last you for years

Quality
Specification
Suitability
Professionalism
Value for money

Rory Shepherd - building high quality tennis courts for 30 years

I'm Rory Shepherd and for 30 years my firm Anglia & Midland Sports has been building high quality tennis courts to LTA standards.

We know what goes into a quality tennis court, but for most buyers it's a mystery. After all, once it's been built, one court looks much like another.

So after building more than 4,000 courts from the Humber to the Thames, allow me to let you in on a few secrets.

Secret number one

It's the quality below the surface that makes the difference. Let's start with the foundations. A court's foundations are important because the ground below the court can shift because of frost or drought and the deeper the base of the court the less likely that is to cause you a problem.

FACT: Unless it laid on perfect ground, an AMSS tennis court contains a 10-inch stone foundation. That's 66 per cent more stone than the minimum requirements laid down by SAPCA, the tennis court constructors' trade association.

Secret number two

With the exception of Texplay II, which is almost a plastic macadam, you need two coats of macadam, not one, to make a better court. Just as the depth of the foundations makes a difference so does that extra coat of macadam. Because we lay two coats, you get a court that plays truer and lasts longer. A court that bounces low but comes through fairly slowly is great for coaching – and it also reduces family arguments about dad serving too fast!

Tennis Court Construction, Maintenance and Repair

Secret number three

You need a top surface that meets your needs. And for that you need expert advice. For example, do you want a fast court or a slower one? Older players often feel more secure on a court that gives them a little more grip. Do you want to use the court as a multi-use games area for five a side football, hockey or even netball?

We can create the surface that suits you.

Secret number four

You don't want your garden turning into an industrial-scale building site. This may not be a secret to you but it's probably news to many contractors who use mechanical equipment more suitable for road building. That's why we use specialist mechanical equipment that leaves lighter narrower tracks and boards that won't cause lasting damage to the court or your garden.

Secret number five

The cheapest courts are often not the best value. Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for. Were proud of the fact that there's nothing in an Anglia and Midland court that we couldn't make or source more cheaply by reducing the quality of the specification or supplying cheaper fittings. For example, there is £2,000 more stone put into the foundation of an AMSS court than there is on a SAPCA minimum standard court. What's more, we don't charge any more for the extra labour involved in laying it. And we don't find that we get called back for repair work on our courts as soon as the first frost of winter starts to bite.

Our courts come with a three or five-year warranty. But in reality it's very rare for anyone to need the warranty. We have just been contacted by the owner of an AMSS court who was asking us to resurface it – 30 YEARS after we first laid it.

Buying a tennis court

The best way of getting a tennis court that suits you is to try them out first. We've built thousands of courts for clubs and private individuals, and we would be pleased to arrange for you to play on a tennis court with the surface that you are interested in.

Listed on the site are a few of the tennis clubs for whom we've built courts. Talk to any owner of the courts we've designed and built and you'll learn that we're neat, tidy, efficient and fair.

CLICK HERE to read some of our testimonials

Pick the surface that suits you best

Our tennis courts are designed for play all year round, come rain or shine (and even frost). We offer five main synthetic tennis court surfaces - Texplay II, Tennitex, Tenniturf, Advantage and Volley.

Each surface is specifically designed to give players the tennis playing characteristics they need.

To find out more CLICK HERE

Resurfacing your court can make sound sense

Our Texplay II surface provides an ideal medium for resurfacing old courts. Laying a carpet over your old court is a very attractive alternative to conventional tarmac resurfacing, which calls for a minimum of 30 tonnes of hot tarmac, and the presence of big rollers and tractors in your garden.

Texplay II offers a host of benefits. It looks good, it's easy on the joints, it grips when it's damp, and it's suitable for other sports too.

Maintenance is simple, even on courts that are prone to moss, algae or bird droppings, because you can pressure wash at full pressure.

Installation is easy too, with no need for heavy lorries and equipment in your garden. Texplay II comes in rolls of fabric and 25kg bags of mineral dressing which can be carried in. This is especially helpful when the original access used to build the court has been lost through plant growth, hard landscaping, and later construction. In contrast, resurfacing with hot macadam, calls for the macadam to be reasonably near to the court.

Not all old courts are suitable for macadam resurfacing. Greygreen grit courts were never built to take the heavy rollers that are needed to lay hot macadam. Similarly old macadam courts that are not strong enough to take a roller on them can be resurfaced with Texplay II. Asan added benefit, Texplay insulates the foundation and will reduce the affects of freezing on an old or ash base.

Texplay II's thick strong scrim backing allows it to be laid on tarmac surfaces that are very worn, without the coat of macadam necessary to lay Tenniturf. We just infill any dips and hollows and lay the carpet over the top.

Texplay II is flexible. It can be laid, rolled back and laid again if, for instance, a root from a protected tree raises the surface – without damaging the court surface. As a result, a court's life can be vastly extended – a real bonus in sensitive garden areas.

Old courts were made with geotextile weedbarriers underneath them, so weed growth can be a real problem with macadam. Texplay II will repel weeds.

The solid nature of the Texplay II carpet allows it to be laid without raising the concrete or brick edging from the perimeter of the court. If required it can be laid over the edging up to the fence. The net post sockets will not need to be raised if they are in good condition. We simply adjust the posts to give the correct net height.

Texplay II is economical. If an old base needs to be replaced to take the heavy loads imposed by laying a new macadam surface, it can be far cheaper to simply clean the surface, patch any rough areas and lay Texplay II straight on top. Furthermore, Texplay II doesn't need repainting after seven years. This means that after seven years, you will have paid no more for a Texplay II carpet than you would have done for Tarmac – and you'll have had seven years playing on a far better surface.

Great Multi Use Games Areas

We have designed and built hundreds of Multi Use Games Areas (MUGA for short) for, among other things, soccer, tennis, basketball, hockey and netball.