Final Tournament at Resurfaced Fort Greene Park Tennis Courts A Success

This year’s season at Fort Greene Park’s newly resurfaced tennis courts culminated with a tournament on Sunday that participants described as both “epic” and “inspirational.”

Keenan Hughes defeated Sam Burns, last year’s champion, in the defining match, making this his third win since 2009, according to Michael Brownstein, the president of the Fort Greene Tennis Association. The score was 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, Brownstein said.

“Even though the match was delayed a day by weather, a big crowd turned out to watch,” Brownstein said in an email.

Local wine shop Greene Grape Provisions and Jahdiel Williams, a local tennis player who strings and customizes racquets, donated prizes for both the winner and the finalist of the match, according to Brownstein.

This year’s season was a bit different than past seasons at the courts. As The Nabe previously reported, the courts were closed from April 26 to June 1 as a private contractor filled in cracks and fissures that made tennis playing both difficult and dangerous. The repairs, which cost about $60,000, were almost completely funded by contributions from local tennis players, except for a small grant from the United States Tennis Association, Brownstein said.

“There is more grit on the courts now, and more quality,” tennis player James Russell, 29, told The Nabe in June. “It looks a lot nicer.”

The six courts had not been completely taken down and built up again since 1994, Brownstein said. While the resurfacing project wasn’t a complete overhaul, Brownstein considered it a necessary preliminary step.

“The courts will still need to be rebuilt at some point in the near future,” Brownstein told The Nabe in May. “The goal is to sort of leverage our success from doing this repair to motivate the city to pay for the courts to be rebuilt at some point.

Meanwhile, Brownstein said, Fort Greene Tennis Association members are already brainstorming ideas for next spring and summer’s events at the courts.