2008

The development of the game in Ireland has undoubtedly been restricted by the combination of a lack of indoor facilities and the reliance on a single climate-friendly playing surface – the ubiquitous artificial grass. Equally, for many years Tennis Ireland had to rely on the hire of private court facilities to implement elite player development programmes in an environment which did little to encourage the development of tennis-specific sports science.

In 2003 work began on the first phase of development of the National Tennis Centre at Albert College Park, Glasnevin. Four indoor acrylic courts came into service in 2005 and 2008 has seen the completion of a further three outdoor acrylic courts and most importantly, three synthetic clay courts. This €2.5million project was brought to fruition with the very generous assistance of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, who administer the Sports Capital Fund.

The availability of these fine facilities has allowed Tennis Ireland to set up the National Tennis Academy which offers residential training programmes to Ireland’s finest young players. None of this development would have been possible without the exceptional co-operation provided by our partners – Dublin City Council who made this site available and Dublin City University who provide residential facilities and access to elite fitness facilities and sports science on the adjacent campus. Sport For