The San Francisco Bay Area has needed a major tennis center for many years, and many players and officials have dreamed that one might be built some day. One of the leaders in that drive has been former tennis great and five-time Wimbledon champion Rosie Casals.
A partnership involving local college officials and a coalition of financial contributors has been formed to build this center as a legacy to the Bay Area and to tennis.
The plans previously developed for a site at Treasure Island in San Francisco will be used to create a world-class tennis facility, with an intimate center court unlike any previously designed. The center will include two additional showcase courts capable of seating 5,000 and 3,000. An additional 10 other competition courts and six practice courts will be provided.
The center will also feature permanent offices for the Northern California Tennis Association (member of the USTA). It will feature world-class media facilities as well.
Most particularly, this tennis center has been designed by tennis players for tennis players. San Francisco 2012's tennis experts, who have played in every major tennis facility in the world, have supervised the design of all the competition facilities, so that athletes for the Olympic Games and for other major tournaments will find their every need met in exemplary fashion. From expansive changing rooms with private lounges and treatment rooms, to administrative offices and athletes' dining area, to a secure passageway that leads to all of the outlying competition courts, they have considered every detail.
The stunning glass facade on the western side of the stadium rises from berms that will shelter the venue and provide a park-like setting. The hospitality space will also function year-round as meeting and banquet facilities.
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