Queeny Park – A Relic From the Soviet Union

The long winter of 2013 finally faded last week and we had a chance to play at Edgar M. Queeny Park in St. Louis County.  Queeny Park is one of the “crown jewels” of the St. Louis County Park system.   Edgar M. Queeny was the son of the founder of Monsanto Corporation.

Clearly the tennis courts at one time were well used and include 8 courts and grandstand seating.   The courts are located next to the Greensfelder
recreation complex which includes and auditorium, swimming pool etc.

Scott upon arriving in his 2001 VW Beetle Turbodiesel was surprised to see that Stan had arrived in a brand new 2012 VW Jetta Turbodiesel Sportwagen.    The diesels were happy to see each other!

You rarely hear tennis players talk about these courts…. we found out why.   As we walked up we thought we were looking at something from the collapse of the Soviet Union.   These courts were in shockingly bad shape and most of them are barely playable.    A couple were in better shape and we decided to give them a go.

Immediately on warm up we both noticed that the court surface was extremely grippy….. drop shots here were going to be important.   Warm up complete we got things going.  Very tight match back and forth to 5-5 at which point Stan was able to earn a break point.  

Scott hit a good serve in the backhand corner and Stan came up with an amazing down the line drop shot to win the break.   He held and won the first set at 7-5.  Second set started equally tough.   Scott was fighting hard to get back in the match.   Stan roared out to a 3-1 lead.  

Scott determined went up 40-15 on his serve and then the wheels fell off.   Stan hit a letcord winner, a mishit lob winner and an inside out backhand drop shot in succession.   Scott was stunned and deflated and Stan closed it out 6-2.

St. Louis City and County just passed Proposition P to help fund parks..  we can only hope some of that money finds its way to the courts at Queeny Park.

Location is excellent and is rated a 10.   Condition of courts however is rated only a 4.5 for an average of 7.25.  Nearby is one of our favorite sushi places Nippon Tei for after tennis food and refreshments.