How USTA Tennis Venue Services is helping Boulder, Colo. plan for its tennis future

Partnerships. That is the key word Alison Rhodes often comes back to when discussing what makes Boulder, Colo.’s sports facilities so relevant. In fact, she says, partnerships are not just important; they are essential.

Rhodes, who is the city’s director of parks and recreation, and her staff had been working to balance the needs of tennis players and pickleball players against a limited number of courts—in an area that was already squeezed for space.

“Real estate in Boulder is incredibly valuable,” she notes. “We’re landlocked, and there’s a lot of competing pressure for every available acre of property.”

Compounding the problem was the fact that one of the area’s racquet clubs, which was located on a hotel property, had been closed, and the facility redeveloped into student housing, further constricting court inventory.

“As a result [of the closure], there won’t be any indoor tennis courts available in Boulder,” says Todd Carlson, the USTA's director of Tennis Venue Services, parks and CTAs. “This has caused the University of Colorado's teams to lose their place to play tennis. There is now a greater need for collaboration among CU, the city of Boulder, USTA Colorado and USTA Intermountain to address this issue.”

Change is already afoot. Four of Boulder’s existing courts will soon be rebuilt with post-tensioned concrete—a wise investment, since the courts will be durable enough to withstand freeze/thaw cycles without cracking and requiring maintenance that would hold up the playing season.

“We have the contracts to have those built,” notes Rhodes.

And when it came to the overall court shortage, there was, literally, plenty of room for improvement. Rhodes and her team identified several parcels of parkland that could be developed for court use. Ultimately, 22 dedicated tennis courts and 22 dedicated pickleball courts will be built across five parks. This will be done in two phases: one beginning in 2025 and one beginning in 2028.

And Boulder still won’t be done.