Editorial: Game, set, match: Tennis idea is a hit

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 9:58 a.m.

Weekend tennis players in Las Vegas know that in order to be assured of getting a court they must rise at dawn and rush to the nearest public park. Even then they often find that other players have somehow beaten them to the two courts available. When that happens they drive to another park, then another and often end up not playing or heading to a high school, where the nets are apt to be frayed and the surface littered. It therefore arrives as good news that the city of Las Vegas is negotiating with the Nevada Tennis Association and the local Darling Foundation to construct a regional tennis facility at Buffalo Drive and Washington Avenue.

Mayor Oscar Goodman loves referring to Las Vegas as a "world class" city, but in the area of public parks it has a ways to go before reaching that point. Public amenities such as this proposed tennis complex would give the phrase meaning beyond mere boosterism. Truly, in the city that boasts of Andre Agassi as one if its own, this proposal, with its 20 acres, 23 courts and prospects of pro and amateur tournaments, is a 120 mph ace of an idea.