Red clay tennis courts Red Bank’s best secret

If you’re driving down Broad Street in Red Bank and see red clay tennis courts, don’t do a double take and think you’re suddenly in Roland Garros in France for the French Open. It’s just Marine Park, where the clay courts have been since 1930 (in 1939 Don Budge, the first man to win the Grand Slam and the world’s top player at the time, played here). The courts are part of a public facility, owned by the borough of Red Bank, and they were originally the home for Red Bank High School and Red Bank Catholic High School but have become a place for the casual tennis player to enjoy their afternoon or early evening.

You don’t have to go to Roland Garros in Paris to play on the European red clay courts. One of the best-kept secrets in Red Bank is its clay courts located in Marine Park. The courts have been there since the 1930s. “I grew up on those courts, starting in 1955 when I played on them for the first time,” club pro Rich Nicoletti said. “I never really left after that. I worked for the original pro there, and I’m still here now.”

He said it takes a more patient game to play on clay as opposed to hard courts that are the norm in most of the United States.

“The power is absorbed by the surface, and the clay neutralizes the serves, making the rallies longer and more drawn out,” Nicoletti said. “When you play on a hard court, the rallies are much shorter because you can get a lot more power on your serves and put it past your opponent.”

The whole idea of playing on clay is not one that is particularly new, according to Nicoletti.

“When I was a kid, nobody wanted to play on hard courts,” he said. “The clay courts and the grass courts were a lot more popular, and the hard surfaces are actually the relatively new place to play. I always said that clay is where the gladiators play.”

As opposed to playing on the hard surface or even on grass, Nicoletti said, players have to be in good shape to play on the clay, and it’s really an endurance test, especially with the way a player slides around and gets from one side of the court to the other.

Keeping the clay courts in Marine Park looking great and playing just as well is not an easy task.

“If any town or city were to build new tennis courts today, they would be hard surfaces for sure,” Nicoletti said. “Having clay courts takes a lot of maintenance, with the watering and the smoothing and the care that needs to go in to keep the court hard and able to weather the elements.”

With the extreme temperatures that we’ve had this summer, Nicoletti said, playing on clay is a major difference from playing on the hard surfaces during the summer months.

“You can boil an egg on a hard court during the summer when it’s hot like it’s been. It’s almost like you’re standing on a mirror on the hard surface,” he said. “But when you’re on the clay, it absorbs the heat and you don’t really feel anything.”

If you travel past Marine Park on a regular basis and haven’t stopped by to play a game on the clay, Nicoletti has some good advice.

“It’s a great atmosphere for tennis, and when I play a sport, I want to play it in an elite atmosphere, which is exactly what a clay tennis court is. It doesn’t hurt that it’s in a great area in Red Bank, so all in all it’s just a neat place to play tennis.”

The courts are open to the public and its members. If you’d like to play a round, you can pay for each game or open a membership and slide around on the clay like Rafael Nadal whenever the urge strikes you.