Preparation
As a preparatory measure, the tennis court will first be cleaned of all debris that has accumulated over the winter. Leaves, twigs, and other debris will be carefully removed from the court. Please ensure that the tennis court is in a reasonably secure condition. If you leave deep footprints, it might be better to wait a little longer.
If the tennis court is still soft, you can roll it before the actual spring maintenance. This reduces the risk of leaving excessively deep footprints from footpaths and wheelbarrows.
As a final preparatory step, the tennis lines (if they are tension lines) are lifted, any dirt underneath is swept away, and the lines are tamped down after alignment. This prevents you from constantly snagging on the lines when working with drag nets and rubber scrapers. If you are using a sander, this is essential anyway, as otherwise you would also get caught on the raised lines and wouldn't be able to work continuously.
scrape
Scraping refers to the removal of the top 2-3 mm of the tennis court surface in spring. This is done manually using scrapers made of aluminum or wood with a saw blade. Nowadays, motorized sweepers are also available to assist with this task. Experienced teams can scrape an entire tennis court in an hour or less.
Often, especially on newer tennis courts, it's not necessary to scrape much material from the playing area. Sometimes it's enough to simply sweep away the top layer with a street broom without scraping too much. However, this depends on whether there's moss in those areas, as moss always needs to be scraped away.
When scraping, it's especially important to use brick dust shovels. These shovels with their straight edges allow for clean collection of the scraped-up brick dust and won't damage the tennis court surface.
Throw in
Spreading the brick dust by hand isn't a major problem with the right number of workers. You distribute 18 wheelbarrows across the entire field and simply need to ensure that immediately after spreading it with a brick dust shovel, the dust is distributed and leveled using a drag net or broom. Don't wait until the entire field is covered, because by then the brick dust will have absorbed moisture from below and can no longer be properly distributed with these tools.
If you have a well-maintained tennis court that has been regularly cared for throughout the season, then you don't necessarily need to prepare the baseline areas beforehand. However, since this is rarely the case in reality, you will want to prepare the baseline areas beforehand. Spread a sufficient amount of clay, distribute it with a wide wooden or aluminum scraper, level it, water it, and roll it.
They can subtract the material they used for this area from the 18 wheelbarrows, as they no longer need to throw brick dust in these places.
Throwing in with machine assistance works in principle the same way: prepare the baselines, throw in the ball, level it with a broom or drag net and water it.
For watering, it is best to use the fan nozzle and the hose, as these distribute a finer film of water on the surface of the pitch and do not wash away any grain.
Slurry injection method
In some parts of Germany, the "wash-in" method is common. After the clay has been thrown, the tennis court is thoroughly watered, and the clay is leveled with a rubber squeegee over the wet surface. The advantage of this method is twofold: firstly, the clay is worked into the depressions, resulting in a smooth tennis court surface. Secondly, this method provides the court with a significant amount of water, which, as mentioned, is the most important factor for hard tennis courts. However, this method is somewhat more labor-intensive; it requires more time to work cleanly, and the water pressure in the hoses must be high enough to achieve a good result.
After the initial application of the sealant, the tennis courts need to dry out for a few days. However, you can sweep them once a day with a PVC squeegee. Some people suggest rolling the courts several times after the initial application. In our opinion, this isn't necessary; it's sufficient to submerge the courts a few times and then let them dry out again.
Rolling
If you don't use a water-soaked base coat on your tennis courts, they must be thoroughly watered after the initial application and then rolled with a tennis court roller. Tennis court rollers weigh approximately 600 kg when filled with water; this is the maximum weight that should be used on a tennis court. In our opinion, one pass with the roller is sufficient; watering over the next 14 days usually takes care of the rest.
Roll the tennis court crosswise from both ends to the baseline, once also over both T-lines, then roll the entire court lengthwise. If the lines are well compacted, you won't have any problems rolling over them. However, you should make sure that you always keep the lines relatively centered and don't drive directly on or next to the lines with the edges of the rollers.