Work Begins on Tennis Courts 7 and 8

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

At the October 16 Pacific Palisades Park Advisory Board Meeting, Tennis Director Mike Tomas revealed that work on courts 7 and 8 at Palisades Recreation Center would begin on October 22, with an expected completion date of November 22.

The two courts have been closed since February when a sinkhole opened in the parking lot, prompting the drilling of a hole five or six feet deep in court 7 to replace a damaged pipe that runs to Potrero Canyon. Due to a lack of partition, court 8, though undamaged, has remained closed as well.

The last work completed wrapped up June 12. At that point, Tomas was told that the remaining job shouldn’t take too long, officials were just unsure when work would begin.

“Let’s just hope it gets done … and gets done in a timely fashion,” Tomas said, touching on the bevy of additional issues the park is facing. “Let’s just try to be optimistic.”

Tomas explained that the closures have not only affected the tennis community that plays at the rec center, but also the Palisades Charter High School tennis team, which holds matches at the court. Coach Bud Kling was originally told that the courts would be operational ahead of the girls tennis season, but that deadline passed.

Tomas has worked to host as many games at the park as possible, utilizing the upper courts to make up for the closure. He shared that he receives questions almost every day from players when the courts will reopen.

At the time of the meeting, Tomas was unsure if the scope of the work included resurfacing the courts.

“Whatever they decide to do, that’s their decision,” Tomas explained, “but they told the entire community that they would resurface the courts, which changes the playability.”

He added that resurfacing the courts would make tennis more enticing and help make people more excited about tennis.

“Fingers crossed that it gets done and those courts reopen,” Tomas said at the meeting.