STLForgottenCourts

A Blog about Tennis and forgotten Tennis Courts in the St. Louis area

Pioneer Park – Playin on Plastic!

An extraordinary court and a great match!  We started our adventure by meeting at our favorite local tennis store The Racketman for some purchases.   Once our supplies were in hand we headed over to nearby Pioneer Park in Des Peres.   These courts were suggested to us by our friends the McGuires for their unusual surface made of interlocking plastic squares.    

During warm-up it became apparent that the balls did some funky things on this surface.   Bounces were inconsistent and the court was fast.    This worked really well for the Bulgarian.  Meanwhile Scott (NOCO) could not find a comfort zone.   First set went to Stan 6-1.

Second set was a different story as Scott began to get a feel for things and began to control the play with his forehand.    Second set went to the north county boy 6-3.  Points in the second set were much longer as both players adjusted to the court surface.

Third set became an all out war!   Stan took the first two games and then Scott won three in a row to go up 3-2.  At 5-4 Scott held two match points….Stan
rose two the occasion and denied the first one with a return of serve that just kissed the baseline.    On the second point Scott came to the net and the Bulgarian hit a short angle passing shot that clipped the sideline.  Match Points Denied!

At 6-6 a tiebreaker was played which Stan was able to win easily.  Total time for the match was three hours!  Afterwards we visited The Pretzel Boys for some nourishment and refreshments.  Court location here was a 10 and the condition was an 8.  Pretty good experience on this strange plastic surface!