If you know me you may be a little bit aware that I’m a “venue guy.” If we’re in a different town and the crowd wants to go to a new restaurant, I’m more about the scene and experience than the food. If Jennifer is booking a beach trip for the fam or Amanda or Amy is booking a KW conference trip for my not well traveled a**, they know I care more about the view from my room and what’s in the lobby than anything about the room itself. Other than convenience, it’s just what’s more important to me.
That’s one of the facets I enjoy about tennis, too. Being in a “cage match” with all that is happening around each court is part of the challenge and fun. This is obviously true for golf, too, but I’ve checked out of the golf world for a while. The color and grains of the courts, the vehicle and foot traffic, lighting, trees, kids playing at adjacent playgrounds, nearby basketball games, elevations, views…all that.
That all said, check out someone’s vision in the pic above. WOW.
Should something like this serve as a 5th major as suggested? I dunno. Would something like this make for something closer to an amusement park of a sport, or a true but fun challenge? If a bird flies over me in the middle of my serve I get kinda pissy about it. If a shark “flies” over a player’s serve, should that be a part of what makes the court or tournament special? I mean, what if a whale throws a dump on the glass and the spectators have to look at it the entire match?
Would it be cool for all-time, or if you played a few tournaments or attended as a spectator once or twice, would it still be as cool?
I’m leaning no, but perhaps if they constructed the playing surface of a nautical sponge and changed the sport, that’s another conversation.
Either way, it’s an interesting and impressive concept. Check the copy below.
Thank you!
Franklin Jones
“Dubai is no stranger to unusual tennis courts. In 2005, a court was built atop the 1,000-foot-tall Burj al Arab hotel to promote the Dubai Tennis Championships. And now an architect from Poland has proposed another strange court—one beneath the sea. Krysztof Kotala, who studied at London’s Royal Institute of British Architects, Poland’s Krakow Polytechnic, and Germany’s the Münster University of Applied Sciences, has envisioned an underwater tennis complex that could be built just offshore in the Persian Gulf, between the Burj al Arab and the Palm Jumeirah islands.
Part sports arena and part aquarium, the eccentric concept for the seven-court complex calls for a rooftop coral reef, which would bring an abundance of sea life to the area for spectators (and players) to view. It would also create the illusion of a natural atoll.
Bringing such a plan to reality would require overcoming some formidable engineering challenges, including creating a single piece of glass large enough to cover the structure and strong enough to withstand the pressure of the water. Should developers ever decide to tackle this project, Kotala thinks the arena would be the perfect spot for a fifth Grand Slam.”
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