Photos: Arthur Reymond via Tennis Legend and L'Equipe “If you build it they will come.”
Well maybe not now in the time of Coronavirus, but World No.589 Arthur Reymond and his father Laurent, have built it nevertheless. After weeks of training at home and missing tennis terribly, the pair decided to ask their neighbor, a former president of the town’s tennis club, if they could renovate his old court.
Sounds good, in theory.
Problem was the court was in bad shape, overgrown with roots and weeds, and had not been taken care of in seven or eight years.
But these days, with the Coronavirus making rounds around the globe and shutting down everything from professional sports to hair salons to cinemas to coffee shops, we have nothing but time.
So Arthur and his engineer father, who had rehabilitated swimming pools and even built a house, set upon a labor of love. They said it was pure hell, with hundreds of Acacia roots under the court and extreme inconsistencies in the soil, which had become hardened by years of direct sunlight and no maintenance.
Eventually, after spending only the prescribed hour a day allotted for exercise during quarantine in France, the family received clay from a neighboring club and put the finishing touches on their incredible effort. They have already been playing several weeks and plan to continue training there even after restrictions are loosened in France on May 11. The neighbor has granted them free access for life.