Court seven reopened this week after a full rebuild: the base dug out to the drainage layer, a new stone carpet, and forty millimetres of European red clay rolled in over three days. It is the first of the six clay courts to be rebuilt since 1994 and the other five will follow one a year.
The new base drains faster, which lets the clay season run from the first week of April to the end of October rather than the middle. Squad blocks move outdoors two weeks earlier than they did, and the adult box leagues moved onto clay on the first of the month.
The groundsman would like it known that the court is rolled and watered at seven every morning and that a player who drags a bag across a freshly rolled baseline will hear about it.
