There’s nothing like early-evening, summertime tennis in Newport Beach, whether you’re a private club member, play at the public parks or serve and volley in your backyard.
After multiple decades, my wife, Andrea, and I started playing tennis again about a year ago when our son bolted for college on the East Coast.
She and I played together regularly during our courting years, often during the evening at a Costa Mesa apartment complex where I lived. The facility boasted two lighted tennis courts, as well as a weight room, sauna, pool and Jacuzzi.
We would usually play tennis at night, and then bask in the Jacuzzi with a soda pop. They were fun, spirited and memorable times. We also attended professional tennis matches and competed annually in the Orange County Press Club tennis tournament at Newport Beach Tennis Club.
Tennis was a part of a low-cost, entertaining and physical fitness-based pastime.
But following our nuptials, and subsequently raising two children, our tennis dates ended as fast as a Taylor Dent power serve.
However, our return to the local hard courts has been filled with steady improvement, a good feeling of getting back into “tennis shape” and the joy of shared activity.
We began our reentry into the game by rallying back and forth in an effort to reclaim the groove and swing, while realizing we aren’t as nimble, athletic or flexible as we used to be, and chasing down balls and lunging for shoestring shots continue to be a point of strenuous objection.
These days, we are back to playing games and keeping score, and fortunately we’re equal opponents. Our next goal is to finish a full set. We’re taking baby steps.
We play at public courts in Newport Beach — Bonita Canyon Sports Park, Irvine Terrace Park, Grant Howald Park, West Newport Park and San Joaquin Hills Park, which is our favorite because of its court availability (there are four courts and the facility doesn’t seem as busy as the others). Grant Howald and West Newport are the most popular. At West Newport, we complete our tennis with a short stroll to the beach and cool off in the ocean.
It has been a blissful rekindling of our tennis relationship, and with the tremendous history of the game in our backyard, it feels like love 40 forever.
Many fine tennis players and coaches come from Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, where legendary former USC men’s tennis coach Dick Leach lived and raised his family, including sons, Rick and Jon, both of whom played on the Association of Tennis Professionals Tour. Rick Leach was the world’s No. 1-ranked doubles player in 1990 for nine weeks.
Former ATP standout Dent (Corona del Mar High) is the top junior player to come out of Newport Beach, winning four ATP championships and once walloping the fastest serve ever recorded in ATP Tour history at 144 mph.
With pro exhibitions, World Team Tennis, two U.S. Davis Cup events and a long, storied background, many of the game’s marquee players have grazed courts in Newport Beach.
Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Boris Becker, as well as old-school titans Roy Emerson, Pancho Segura, Alex Olmedo, Bobby Riggs, Pancho Gonzalez and Rod Laver, have smashed volleys and serves on these local courts. Among those on the women’s side who’ve played here are stars such as Lindsay Davenport, Billie Jean King, Tracey Austin, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis and Chris Evert.
There might be more private tennis clubs in Newport Beach than anywhere in the world in such a tiny region, with the likes of Lido Isle Tennis Club, Beacon Bay Tennis Club, Big Canyon Country Club, Balboa Bay Resort Tennis Club, The Tennis and Pickleball Club at Newport Beach, Newport Beach Tennis Club and Palisades Tennis Club, all seven within just a few miles of each other.
One longtime and renowned Newport Beach resident, silver screen icon John Wayne, helped turn a gulch in the Upper Newport Bay into a private tennis club, initially called the John Wayne Tennis Club, now known as Palisades Tennis Club. The Duke set the groundwork for the club, which opened in 1974. The John Wayne Club changed its name to Palisades in 1995.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.