Court Savvy : Palisades Tennis Club Gets Face-Lift in Preparation for Davis Cup Match

Hans Loschl leans against the waist-high chain-link fence around center court at Palisades Tennis Club, watching workmen pour mint-green goo and spread it with squeegees into a smooth new surface, the same brand they applied to Andre Agassi’s backyard court.

It’s the slowest of hardcourt surfaces, but it slows the ball without changing the trajectory of the bounce much. Already there’s talk among members about how difficult it’s going to be to schedule a match on one of the three resurfaced courts after the U.S. faces the Netherlands in the second round of the Davis Cup here April 4-6.

“It’s what everyone wants,” said Gary Lindstrom, regional manager for California Products Corp., the company that makes the synthetic surface called Plexipave. “It’s mixed with a 60-grit silica, which is the [biggest particles] you want to go. But the silica is round, so the ball doesn’t sit up.

“At 60 mph, it slows the ball to 10.4 feet per second after the bounce from 10.9 on a regular, 90-grit surface. That makes a much bigger difference than you’d think. After they try it, the members are going to be fighting for it. For average players like you and me, it really makes the game a lot more fun.”

Loschl, a chef at Santa Ana Country Club, isn’t too worried about competition for the resurfaced courts, though. “When I play, at 7:30 in the morning, there’s hardly anybody here,” he says, his eyes still fixed on pristine Plexipave.

Five of Palisades’ 15 courts are out of service because of resurfacing and construction of bleachers that will turn the club into an intimate 5,200-seat facility for three days.

You won’t hear many complaints from members, though, even the ones being forced to play doubles when they’d really rather be playing singles. And there are at least four good reasons for all the good cheer:

1. New courts, fences, windbreaks, nets and landscaping with no fee increase.

2. An understanding that nobody wants to hear whining from anyone who can afford to belong to a club with its courts nestled up against the fairways of a golf course.

3. Opposing an international us-vs.-them sporting event is just plain unpatriotic.

4. More than 80% of the members took advantage of first-choice priority seating, snapping up 2,810 three-day tickets within the first week of sales.

“One thing I felt I had to demand in negotiations [with the U.S. Tennis Assn.] was that our members got first shot at tickets,” club owner Ken Stuart said.

“That’s why there’s so little moaning. I think the members think of this as a great honor and that they’re a very special part of it.”

Ray Brett, who lives in Huntington Beach and came over with Stuart from the original Palisades club in Costa Mesa, says everyone he talks to understands that the event is a “once-in-a-club’s-lifetime thing.”

“Newport [Beach Tennis Club] had the Davis Cup there 20 years ago [the U.S. beat South Africa in 1977] and they have this big plaque to commemorate it,” he said. “Now we get one.”

Ross Mollard, a real estate investor and developer, has been playing at the facility--the former John Wayne Tennis Club--since 1981. He didn’t expect a very vocal backlash but is surprised he hasn’t even heard a discouraging word.

“Look at those two going at it,” he said, pointing to two sweat-drenched, white-haired players, one chasing down a drop shot, then the other the ensuing lob.

Dick Lister, one of those huffing 60-year-olds, jumps on a short ball and spins in a drop shot. This time, his opponent can’t run it down. “Make him pay,” he tells himself as he walks toward a bench to sip water on the changeover.

“There are plenty of very serious tennis players here,” Mollard said. “and I thought there’d be more grumbling with one-third of our courts out of commission. You know, there is always somebody who’s unhappy. But everyone seems to be taking a do-it-for-your-country attitude and just about everyone is going to the matches.”

Lister, a clinical sports psychologist, has been playing on these courts for more than 20 years. “When World Team Tennis had a franchise here, which took away only one court, half the members were up in arms,” he says. “But that certainly hasn’t happened this time.

“Of course Davis Cup is a lot more prestigious than the WTT.”

Rhonda Johnson took up the sport less than three years ago when she moved from Toronto to Corona del Mar. She’s now a full-fledged baseline junkie, playing at least once a day. She said she was first in line to buy tickets.

“I’m from Canada and tennis isn’t that big there,” she said, “so I’ve never seen the pros play. I’m really excited. I’m looking forward to seeing Agassi play. He’s got a great presence.”

Agassi, who will play singles along with Jim Courier, has been struggling lately and has suffered a number of first-round upsets. But Don Gaynor, Palisades general manager, and Lister, who saw Agassi play recently in the Newsweek Champions Cup in Indian Wells, are expecting good tennis from the game’s most popular player.

“Andre Agassi is an impact player,” Gaynor said, “and I believe he’ll rise to the occasion and play his best tennis while representing his country.”

Lister saw Agassi lose two tiebreakers to bullet-serving Australian Mark Philippoussis and came away impressed with Agassi’s game.

“He dropped one service game and lost, 7-5, in both tiebreakers to a guy who was serving rockets,” Lister said. “He played very well.”

Promoter Russ Cline, who literally wrote the book--a guide now used in 127 countries--on Davis Cup promotion, might be more concerned with how Agassi sleeps than how he plays.

“Right now, we’re handling a myriad of details,” he said after working out one of them, the official draw ceremony that is open to the public and will be held at 12:15 p.m. next Thursday on Fashion Island’s Atrium Park Lawn with all the players in attendance.

“We have to get everything out of the way before the television people and the players get here. Then there will be a whole new passel of reacting to their needs.”

Cline, who is staging his eighth Davis Cup event, has faced a passel of hassles this time. Putting on an event like this usually requires getting “maybe two” permits from the host city. In Newport Beach, it took 23.

And Palisades is not an established arena with the accompanying staff of ushers, maintenance and engineering people, sound systems, suitable power, public restrooms . . . the list is very long.

“It’s kind of a throwback to the ‘60s,” Cline said. “We’ve got to do it all with volunteers and train those volunteers. But we’re going to create an intimate setting you can’t get in any pro building. There is no bad seat out there. The last row of the bleachers is right on top of the action.”

Search long enough, though, and you can find one person on the premises who already has bubbled over with Davis Cup hysteria and is beginning to go a little flat. Patty Fleshman, who runs the computer match-scheduling software that Stuart designed, “can’t wait until it’s over.”

Fleshman can’t please as many people as she usually does while working her matchmaking magic and that makes her cranky. And she has started to sense that “some of the members are getting kind of uptight.”

“Ever since we found out in February that it was really going to happen, it’s been incredibly hectic,” she said, managing a smile. “The phones alone are almost overwhelming.

“I mean, I want to see it too, but I just wish it started right now, today.”

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Davis Cup Facts and Figures

* What: Davis Cup quarterfinals

* When: Friday-Sunday, April 4-6

* Where: Palisades Tennis Club, 1171 Jamboree Road, Newport Beach

* Seating capacity: 5,200

* Opponents: United States vs. the Netherlands

* Expected participants: United States--Jim Courier and Andre Agassi in singles, Jonathan Stark and Rick Leach in doubles. The Netherlands--Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis in singles; Sjeng Schalken and Jan Siemerink in doubles.

* Next round: First team to win three matches advances to semifinals Sept. 19-21.

* Times: Friday’s two singles matches begin at 11 a.m., Saturday’s doubles match begins at noon and Sunday’s two singles matches at 11 a.m. Gates open Friday and Sunday at 9:30 a.m., Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

* Tickets: Single-day tickets are available through Ticketmaster at (714) 740-2000 or (213) 480-3232.

* Parking: Free in lots off East Coast Highway at Clubhouse Drive and at the Pacific Mutual building at the corner of Santa Barbara Drive and San Clemente Drive near Fashion Island. Parking at Newport Dunes Resort is $5.