Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre Court 17/18 Refurbishment

Fineturf have undertaken the full refurbishment of courts 17 and 18 at the Wimbledon Qualifying and Community Sports Centre in Roehampton. This latest project, conducted in August 2024, marks a return visit for Fineturf having conducted a large 10-court development project in the summer of 2022.

The first step of the refurbishment was to remove the existing vegetation - from this, the team were able to salvage some usable loam material. The new layout was then marked out, incorporating a new 3m segregation between the courts to install new fencing and locate the infrastructure for court Hawkeye technology.

Following successful completion of the groundworks, work then began on the court construction – designed to Wimbledon court specification.

The indigenous Roehampton soil was laser graded before 50mm of Wimbledon Tennis Approved Loam was introduced and ameliorated into the profile. This 50/50 blend of soil to loam was specified to avoid root break. A further 100mm of loam was applied in 3 increments of 30-40mm, with grading and keying-in conducted between applications to achieve the desired rootzone composition, and optimise drainage and root establishment.

The courts were then sown with MM50 100% perennial ryegrass blend and applied with a grow-in nutritional programme consisting of ICL Sierrablen Pearl, Greentec 6-5-18+MgO+4Fe and Multigreen 28-3-15.

The final stage was to reconfigure and reinstall the court irrigation, including the installation of ACO drains around the perimeter.

The courts were then returned to the in-house grounds department to complete the grow-in and continue with the ongoing maintenance.