Family Circle tournament at Daniel Island South Carolina is a national leader in tennis participation and Columbia particularly so. And that’s pretty impressive when the number of tennis players in the country climbed from 27 million last year to this year’s 30 million. Before the City of Columbia and Lexington County split their league tennis structure a few years ago, Columbia had the South’s second largest league tennis program, second only to Atlanta. On a per capita basis, the Columbia area has more tennis players than any other city in the South.

The court complex count in metropolitan Columbia is also impressive. Lexington County has 21 hard courts in its Oak Grove complex, including a 2,000–seat stadium court. Cayce is building another 30. Cayce is also building a 10,000 sq. ft. pro shop and a stadium court, suitable for sitting more than 3,000 fans. The Columbia Tennis Center (CTC) on Wheeler Hill has 14 hard courts, and Southeast Park, 16 (12 hard, 4 clay), but neither has a stadium court.

The CTC desperately needs a major upgrade, but some of the money originally dedicated in 2004 for the CTC somehow found its way out Garners Ferry Road to Southeast Park, where the 16 courts were built for about $60,000 each on average. A year or two before Southeast Park, the 21 courts in Lexington County were built for about $30,000 each, half the Southeast number.

The cost to construct a clay court is a little less than the cost to construct a hard court. The hard court needs to be resurfaced about every five years, but the clay court calls for constant maintenance. However, the clay court is something of a soft surface compared to the hard court, rendering the surface easier on the feet, ankles, and the knees. The French Championships are played on red clay, so clay is hardly out of style. The national championships in Italy and Spain are also on clay.

The forward edge of the 79 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 have turned 63. Knees are beginning to get all the attention on the tennis court. Clay courts are gaining in demand.

Grass, then, is even higher in demand, but grass court construction and maintenance costs are prohibitive. South Carolina has only one private residential grass court, and there are reports from Hilton Head Island of two grass courts connected with a hotel.

So clay is the thing. Maybe the best South Carolina clay public courts complex is on Daniel Island, home of the Family Circle annual tournament.

To lend value to the surrounding residential real estate and to single itself out as a class compound, the CTC wouldn’t hurt too much if all 14 hard courts were converted to clay, even with the maintenance hassles.

Why suffer all the expense? Because there’s money in tennis on a day– to–day basis, but there is also big money in tennis tournaments and the kind of spending that follows players and their fellow travelers.

In Charleston, for example, in 2005, the South Carolina Adult Championships drew more than 800 adult participants from the top teams from across the state and had an economic impact of $8.5 mil. on the Charleston area.

In both 2004 and 2005,

the 2 , 0 0 0 com- petitors of the USTA Southern Sectional League Championships played all over Columbia and stayed all over Columbia and ate all over Columbia. There were 1,000 players for four days, and then a second 1,000 players for another four days. It was highly unusual for the tournament to play in Columbia for two years in a row. The only problem is what they saw is what we still have.

USC uses the surrounding courts every summer when it manages the S. C. Hardcourt Junior Championships. The South Carolina Clay Court Championships are played at the Greenville Country Club, which is not to say they couldn’t come to the CTC.

Florence, meanwhile, is building another 30 courts (six of them clay), and Sumter is approaching 30 new hard courts at its city complex.

So, reportedly, an upgrade at CTC is under serious consideration, but too many big decisions are yet to be made and financed: stadium court to seat 3–4,000 fans, clay or hard surface; additional courts to raise the total above the existing 14; complete pro shop accommodation with lockers, showers, and the like.

All it takes is money, and the money was apparently there in 2004 when city council approved the bonds for CTC before Southeast Park came along.