The region’s premier annual grass tennis court tournament was recently held at the Desert Highlands Racquet club in North Scottsdale and the event was a huge success. The event was held May 30th – June 4th and featured over 100 players participating in the annual tournament. I was able to attend and watch some of the matches and I wanted to share a little bit about the facility and tournament as well.
Desert Highlands Grass Court Classic
This tournament is a USTA sanctioned, Level 4 event that draws players from inside and outside of Arizona. The tournament featured divisions including an open division for men and women players under the age of 35 years old, as well as divisions for players by age starting at 35 years old and going up to 70+ years old.
This grass court tennis event always brings in a full draw because of the strong competition that normally plays in the annual tournament and the unique venue that features beautiful and well-maintained grass tennis courts.
On the day I attended I was able to speak to a player that had played a match the day before on the grass tennis courts and he was waiting his turn to play that morning. He said he lost his match the previous day because he underestimated how much of an adjustment it was to go from a hard court surface to the grass courts at the Desert Highlands Racket club.
He said by the time he was able to get used to playing on grass, he was down in the score too far to recover enough to win. That was a common sentiment I heard from players after their matches, but all enjoyed the experience of playing on grass, many for the first time.
Desert Highlands Racquet Club
The Desert Highlands Racquet club is a members only facility in North Scottsdale that features 13 tennis courts representing all Grand Slam court surfaces – grass, clay, and hard courts.
The club has four grass courts, six clay courts, and three hard courts all for the use of members of the club. The racquet club also features two regulation size pickleball courts that I was told are getting busier every day.
The main attraction of the Desert Highlands Racquet club is the grass tennis courts which allow members to play grass court tennis year-round. This is one of the finest tennis clubs in Scottsdale and the club stays busy for that reason.
Because of the quality of the facilities, the racket club is privileged to host the USTA grass court tennis classic annually which gives players from all over the region an opportunity to play on grass courts which is a tennis dream of many players.
I think I am going to consider playing in this tournament in 2024 since I also have the tennis dream of one day having the opportunity to play on grass. As I mentioned earlier, the competition level in this tournament is pretty good and that would be pretty fun to play on grass against some pretty good tennis players.
If you live nearby to Arizona and you always wanted to play on grass, this might be your opportunity to join in the fun by registering for the tournament next year.
I hope to see you at the tournament in 2024!