Blinded by the Light (Court Orientation)

Until the earth axis shifts (tilts) more than it has done at such a sloth-like pace over millions and millions of years, the most playable tennis court orientation (end-to-end) seems to be north-to-south or a variation thereof, some degrees off, depending on the latitude location of the court.

There is probably a formula for most any geographical location to provide for maximum sunlight coverage on the court throughout the day and less facing sunlight during early hours in the morning and later in the day. Of course, what a court owner or builder chooses to do is affected by slope of the land and the density and type of current foliage and that expected to mature in height over time.

I am certain, without doubt, that most tennis players are more concerned with the sunlight located behind their opponent than anything else.

During league play one season, we were scheduled to play a neighboring club, a beautiful community, at which I had never played. This was probably in October and the leaves had begun to turn color. This wouldn’t have been much of an issue and would have been a great setting if it weren’t for the fact that the courts were aligned east-to-west. Oh, and to add to it these trees were not dense, allowing all this light through at different angles and rather abruptly with the slightest breeze. A thick hedge row would have been great for awhile until the sun reached the height to clear it.

After about three minutes of warm-up, my partner looks over and asks me if I can see the ball. “Occasionally”, I replied. I believe we were both thinking we had at least half a chance starting out and our opponents were going to have to deal with this as well. We discussed briefly that we may want to keep our shots short or deep and low, at least from this side, to reduce the opportunity for a lob.

They win the toss (spin) and beginning serving from the same side as they were warming up on.

Watching the ball toss and finding it coming off the server’s racket was a crap shoot as the ball blended in and out of the back drop.

During the change-over, I am searching through my sunglasses and making certain my ball cap is in my bag. I don’t like wearing either while playing and my partner strictly will not. As silly as it may have looked, I would have probably worn eye black if I had had it.

I don’t know if our opponents had some serious home court mojo going on, the shades they were wearing were specially designed to diffuse the kaleidoscope of light zipping through the trees or if they were blind and had special powers for tracking tennis balls.

This wasn’t the first and definitely not the last time I have played on courts with such poor orientation, but it was the worst.

So why are so many courts aligned in what appears to be an east-west manner almost year round? Is it for the overall look of the club or complex, to maximum land use for the maximum number of courts or some other reason? I don’t know, but I would love some answers from any of you out there with some experience or insight into this.