Atherton now has public clay tennis court

The clay court is great and will add to the tennis complex at the park. Unfortunately the town has given total access of the courts to Player Capital at almost all times and days. On weekends and times when working people might want to play there is only 1 court available to reserve and it is often booked.

Perhaps Player Capital should be paying more to the city or the park commission should be making sure more courts are available for residents if they want to charge us more. It is great that the courts are getting more use, but it is always packed with lessons so we often go play at other courts in the area.

If my perception is wrong, please correct me. Just one persons view.

I would expect the clay court to be heavily used early due to novelty. As time goes on, usage could go down freeing it up for anyone that wants to use it.

If usage stays high, the town council could charge key holders more for the clay court. The best way to modulate demand is to adjust price. To be revenue neutral, they could lower the price for those that want to use hard courts only.

Another option is to raise the clay court prices and keep hard court prices at the expected $100/resident key. The extra revenue would go toward a capital fund that would convert another hard court to clay.

Player Capital pays Atherton tens of thousands every year for court use. That revenue goes to court maintenance and lower prices for key holders. They can restrict Player Capital's clay court use, but that would mean even higher prices for key holders to make up for the lost revenue.

Why be a key holder if the courts have already been sold to someone else?

It is a nice new feature for residents but it seem excessive for non-residents with a $200 key to still pay $30 per hour to Player Capital. At the end of the day, it is not their court.

It is a good alternative to hard courts for some (including seniors with old knees and juniors generally) but, to clarify, it is not what is used at French Open. Real clay courts in the traditional sense are red clay, which is different than green clay. In case folks wanted to know before putting down money for a key.

@Resident
I walked by the Atherton tennis courts yesterday and today. Both times, the clay court was available for use, as well as a number of hard courts. It doesn't seem busy at all on this weekend.