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Sports

Suburban Stadiums: Nielsen Tennis Center

Open-court time has become rare at one of Winnetka's more popular sports facilities.

This is the first installment of Wilmette and Winnetka Patch’s newest series: Suburban Stadiums. Each week we’ll feature two different local athletic facilities, from fitness centers to neighborhood parks. We’ll dive into its history, list what programs it has to offer and provide a calendar of major events hosted at the space.

NIELSEN TENNIS CENTER

One of Winnetka’s most popular sports facilities, the Nielsen Tennis Center has become a year-round destination for tennis players all over the North Shore.

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It hosts one of the area’s premier sports events – the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships – and has been the practice facility for some of the area’s finest junior tennis players. New Trier High School’s tennis teams compete here as do several travel teams put on by the park district.

Facilities: The Nielsen Tennis Center features eight indoor courts and 12 outdoor courts, five of which are lighted. 

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In 1962 the first two courts – today’s Courts 2 and 3 – were finished at the Nielsen Center. Courts 1 and 4 were added only a year later and the west side courts (5-8) were completed in 1978.

The indoor facility got a new roof in 2001 and a lighting renovation a little bit later in 2002 and 2003. Every five years the outdoor courts are resurfaced.

“By that time the weather and the sun get to them and they need to be redone,” Tennis Manager Tim Schmidt said “It’s not necessarily the asphalt, but a new thick color coating.”

Because of the way the facility was built, the club lacks a social area, somewhere people can sit down and chat after a match. But this is something the club is trying to address within the next three years.

“One of the things we’re missing on a little bit is some social space,” Tennis Manager Tim Schmidt said. “We’d like to expand out the front of the facility and add a lounge area a space and a new reception desk area complete with an enlarged pro shop.”

Programming: About seven years ago, the Nielsen Center was in trouble. Revenues were flat and they were dealing with quite a bit of open court time around the facility. So the staff revamped their programming, adding a lot more offerings in hopes of drawing bigger crowds.

Now the facility is busy year-round. They sponsor more than a dozen travel teams, give daily lessons and have group play.

“About 70 percent of our revenues come through the programming that we generate,” Schmidt said. “That’s really what kind of drives the ship here.”

The junior program has flourished over the last decade. It has more than 500 participants and is one of the reasons why open court time has become a scarcity.

One of its newest features is the Quick Start tennis program, aiming to get kids under the age of 10 into tennis.

“Kids don’t compete on full-length soccer fields when they’re little so we start kids on a 36-foot tennis court with a small net and they play with foam balls,” Schmidt said. “The balls are slower, the rackets are shorter and the game fits the size of the player.”

The courts get bigger and the balls change as the kids graduate and get older and Schmidt says the new program has gone over very well in the community.

Calendar of Events: 

June 27 – July 2: Nielsen Pro Tennis Championships

July 13, July 29, August 10, August 18: Start of Three-Day USTA Summer Events

August 1: Weekly Junior Camps / Adult Clinics Begin

For more information about the Nielsen Tennis Center and its programs, click here.

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