For San Diego resident and former professional tennis-tour player Gretchen Magers, who still competes in age division tournaments like Wimbledon, playing the increasingly popular beach tennis is as much fun as she has ever enjoyed on a “regular” tennis court.
“It is a blast,” she said. “With our weather and access to the beach, it is a natural for San Diego.”
Magers, who competed against some of the all-time greatest women players in tennis history like Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and others, taking on the challenge of expanding beach tennis in San Diego is just one more competition to be won. Beach tennis is one of the fastest-growing sports in America and is played on a court similar to beach volleyball, but with a lower net and different line configurations. Traditional tennis racquets are used but the tennis balls are low-pressure or “soft” tennis balls.
Magers said a beach tennis party is slated to take place at the Barnes Tennis Center the weekend of Feb. 9 and 10. The event will include a clinic, a professional exhibition match and a “free-play day.”
Officially, Magers is the community coordinator for San Diego Beach Tennis, which is connected to the national organization of Beach Tennis USA.
“I am contracted with the national organization to help promote beach tennis in San Diego,” she said.
Earlier this year Beach Tennis USA held a tournament at Mission Beach as part of its national tour. That tournament will not be returning next year, but Magers is working on, among other efforts, arranging to have Beach Tennis San Diego host its own tournament.
“We need sponsors to help us grow and to promote the sport,” Magers said. “In the long run, we hope to establish leagues, clinics and camps. The idea, of course, is to get as many people possible of all ages to play.”
Despite the name, a beach is not needed to play beach tennis. Any area with sand or to which sand can be added will allow the opportunity to play beach tennis.
As an example, the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma has recently created two beach tennis courts and may expand that number to three.
“Previously we had one sand volleyball court,” said Kerry Blum, executive director of Youth Tennis San Diego, which owns and operates the Barnes Tennis Center, 4490 W. Point Loma Blvd. “We upgraded the sand and reconfigured the area to create the two courts.”
Blum said that while there are differences in the net and lines between sand volleyball to beach tennis, it is still a simple process to switch back and forth between the two for those people who are used to playing volleyball at Barnes.
The normal usage and reservation rules apply at the center for beach tennis as for regular tennis.
For more information, visit www.beachtennisusa.net or www.beachtennissandiego.com, or call (619) 920-7075. To reach the Barnes Tennis Center, call (619) 221-9000.