On Thu, 3 Jun 2010 04:19:40 -0700 (PDT), hillpc
wrote:


I'm no tennis expert, but isn't most parking-grade asphalt a lousy court
surface? Not flat, not smooth, etc. The balls will bounce funny, etc. Or
are you going to put a sand bed and astro-turf/rubber mat *surface above it?


Yeah, I'm no expert either, and this is at least a start. I don't
know how much use it will actually get; time will tell. The most
experienced person in my family has only 2 years of high school tennis
experience. But I understand that people do commonly use asphalt, and
the more rigorous people put something on top, such as some kind of
sanded latex coating or other surfaces.

As a lifetime tennis player, I would not want to play on most asphalt
surfaces. Before you put a lot of work into something that will
disappoint, I'd put up a makeshift net and play a few games. I doubt
you will like the unpredictable bounce.

Post a closeup photo of the roughest part of the surface in the
playing area. Put a tennis ball and a quarter in the photo for
perspective.

Better yet, pour something small and spherical, like peas or BBs on
the surface and see how even that is. Taked a photo from the side.

Also, compare your surface with a local public court. I bet there's a
lot of difference. Even concrete courts are coated.

Someone suggested sand. I've played on courts that used sand. Hate
'em.