West Side Story

.. A love story but I didn’t feel loved upon entrance at the Westside tennis club in Forest Hills. The foyer (can’t call it reception area) is so small to the point of feeling chocked. The tall receptionist who resembled Lily Tomlin but without the comedian’s facial expression was poker faced, as if starring down on bunch of country hicks invading the venerable (she might think) club – former US Open was played there. Big deal, small time :). Few steps to the right was the bar, with huge pictures on the wall that reminded me of Yale Club by Grand Central in the city. Smell of money yes, but it could use some updates and touch ups.

the club house, Aug 24 The young guy at the pro shop (don’t know if he’s pro or just a kid making few bucks ..) downstairs was friendly and helpful, took us to the court immediately – we were 20 minutes early. The assigned courts 2-4 were empty. There was a waiting area but the receptionist didn’t bother to direct us there. So I called Susan asking if we could in fact start warm up – there are rules and regulation.

Matches cannot be extended over the 2 hour time period. Please do not try to talk club staff into letting you play on. This will jeopardize the league being able to use the clubs.

The rule is pretty explicit about time on court although it didn’t say anything about getting on early. To be fair, I called opposing team’s captain too, telling her the empty courts situation. They came over quickly, began warming up as well.

The har-tru courts were not prepared/cleaned which annoyed my partner to no end. They were littered with balls and dingy.

I went there in 2006 during the pre-match prior to US Open with a friend. Most courts were taken up by kids all dressed in white. The main stadium was feeling ghosty, and the parking lot was like a jungle – I could image one walks there to play in the winter time – and very far from the club house.

the littlest ball girl; 2006The little ball girl was really cute, the tinniest one I’ve seen so far. During the warm up, a ball was dropped and creep up to the player. Neither the chair umpire nor the linesmen/ball persons said anything. I almost screamed when the player was retreating, about to backstepping on it. It might be her experience, she looked down and then said something. Can you image if she were to sprain her ankle before the tourney? The pro girls were all unknown, that’s quite telling of the state of the club today. Small time indeed.
The Hamlet Golf and Country Club in Commack used to attract bold names years back (haven’t been there for a long time): Jimmy Conners, Michael Chang .. and the stands were packed. It was very cozy.

.. .. Making the story short, eventually, we managed to win 2 super tie breaks and had sweep the opening matches. Guess we were loved after all.

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  1. […] Westside Tennis Club at Forest Hills 1 Tennis Place Forest Hills, NY 11375 718-268-2300 http://www.foresthillstennis.com […]

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