If you're lucky enough to own a holiday home or villa overlooking the sea, installing a tennis court can add even more luxury to your already luxurious second home, as well as giving you a fun way to keep fit when contending with all those barbecues and cocktails. However, maintaining a tennis court made from real grass or clay can be a tiresome and difficult endeavour and is hardly something you want to do when you're supposed to be enjoying your well-earned summer break
Consequently, more and more people who own seaside holiday homes are choosing tennis courts made with synthetic grass. Made from tough plastics that closely mimic the look and feel of real turf, these synthetic grass tennis courts have a number of advantages over courts made from real turf:
Low maintanence
The chief advantages of synthetic grass tennis courts is that they require very little maintenance, even during the hottest parts of the summer. They do not require water or fertilisers and never need to be mowed. This is obviously a particularly useful advantage when you won't be around to maintain your tennis court for most of the year, and this ensures that your court will be ready for play as soon as you return, no matter how long it has been left unused.
Durable
Real grass tennis courts are vulnerable to damage even if you are particularly meticulous with your upkeep, and after repeated use the grass can become sparse, damaged and yellow (particularly around areas with particularly heavy foot traffic, such as the serve line). Synthetic grass courts are far more durable and can withstand many years of fast-paced action without wearing out.
Range of speeds available
The speed of any game of tennis is largely dependant on the length of the grass covering the court; the longer the grass, the slower and easier the game will be. Maintaining a consistent length on a real grass court to ensure consistent play speeds can be difficult without constant maintenance, but this is not a problem for synthetic courts. With a wide variety of grass lengths available, you can choose a synthetic court suitable for fast-paced games or more sedate rallies depending on your preferences and skill level.
Weather resistant
An extended drought or prolonged period of wet weather can ruin a real grass tennis court, even if you keep it well-maintained and do your best to shelter it with ground covers. Synthetic courts, on the other hand, are immune to dry weather and have exceptional drainage characteristics that prevent puddles of standing water from forming. Adding an inexpensive ground cover makes them even more weather-resistant.
Cost effective
Installing a real grass tennis court can be mind-bogglingly expensive, and even if you have the cash the cost of constantly maintaining it and replacing the turf when it becomes overly damaged can quickly stack up. With minimal maintenance requirements and incredibly longevity, a synthetic court is a much more economical choice, especially over the long-term.