The collapsed bubble roof, and a cluster of busy shovelers, at the Prospect Park Tennis Center. (Flickr Courtesy Prospect Park Tennis)
Brooklyn tennis fans, get your racquets out of your closets. Your blizzard-induced hiatus from the sport is ending.
The tennis center at Prospect Park is expected to be open again for business on Sunday, January 2nd, after heavy snow and high winds from Sunday's blizzard collapsed both bubbles early last Monday.
Director Paul Campbell says a shoveling crew of 40 to 50 people — including some regular players who volunteered their time — have worked every day since the storm to clear away what he calls a "mind-boggling amount" of snow. The 11 tennis courts sit on the edge of baseball and soccer fields along Parkside Avenue. Campbell says snow drifted across the fields and piled up four to five feet high against the side of the bubbles, pressing on the fabric and separating it from blowers that provide heat and keep the bubbles inflated over the courts. The volunteers and workers shoveled snow off the collapsed fabric and cleared a 20 to 25 foot perimeter around the two bubbles and the tennis center's office building. Campbell estimates the length of the complex is more than two football fields placed end to end.
"It seemed an insurmountable task," he sighed. "We had to do everything by hand, using wheelbarrows to take away the snow and dump it into the playing field. We had one snow blower, but there was no place to blow it. The snow was too high."
He says the bubbles' fabric suffered some tears. The interior of the bubble is likely to be dirty, too, after having collapsed on top of the green Har-Tru clay that covers the courts.
The price tag for this? Campbell doesn't know. He says he's spent "lots of money" for snow removal. He hasn't received an estimate yet from the vendor repairing and re-inflating the bubbles. Campbell says the one bright spot is that the tennis center's junior program was in recess for the holidays and many players were away.
"If it had to happen, this is as good a week as any," he says. "I hope it never happens again on my watch."
Prospect Park's tennis complex was not the only one affected. Sportime on Randall's Island had one of its three tennis court bubbles collapse under the weight of heavy snow. Christine Tran, Sportime's "tennis concierge," says five courts were affected. She says repair crews are still working on snow removal and repairs. She says the bubble should be back up sometime next week.
Amy Eddings is the local host of “All Things Considered,” which airs from 4 PM until 8 PM weekdays. She started hosting in 2004, after long-time host JoAnn Allen left for the West Coast. Before ATC, Amy was a reporter. Her favorite topics were--and still are--garbage and recycling, which she still reports on whenever she can get out of the studio.
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