My father built the court 35 years ago. Though no one in our family knows the exact year it was built, we have an old receipt from 1989 for the first net we bought. Thus, we dubbed ‘89 as the official beginning of the court.
He built the court while still working. He worked in advertising, and worked a lot. In the late 70’s, he and my mother bought the summerhouse, not long before I was born. Some years later they managed to buy a little piece of forest next to the house—where the court now lives. At the time, all of my family played tennis: my father, mother, older brother and sister played on a pretty high level. As a result, my father got the idea to make a tennis court for the family, choosing grass as the surface.
There were two reasons for choosing grass. The first being that it was less expensive to make than other surfaces. This turned out to be very wrong. Considering the amount of hours working on it, the machinery needed throughout the years etc. Nonetheless, at the time, it was a reason. The second, and most important, reason was that he wanted to court to be in symbiosis with the forest and nature, explaining why he choose not to fence it. The court is there as part of its surroundings. Sometimes a bit greener, a bit flatter, with less dandelions but still.