STLForgottenCourts

A Blog about Tennis and forgotten Tennis Courts in the St. Louis area

Saint Cyr Park

NOCO gets his revenge for the stunning loss last week!

NOCO’S REVENGE!!!

This week’s adventure started as a trip to view a vacant commercial lot which Stan and Central Realty are co-listing for Bank of America.   The lot is at the intersection of St. Cyr Rd and Highway 367 across from a Shop N Save.   Afterwards as we were driving down St. Cyr road we came across a small park with two tennis courts.  Fortunately we had our tennis equipment with us and it was on!   The courts were carpet/astroturf with a sand base.   We have never played each other on this kind of surface so we knew it was going to be interesting. 

The Prince balls we obtained from Racketman really gripped the carpet and the result was a really slow court.  Underspin shots were really effective as they really bit into the carpet.   The result was it was really difficult to hit winners at all.   NOCO jumped out to an early lead in the first set and then Stan came back with effective use of underspin and consistency.

First set to Stan 6-4.   The second set NOCO began with a strategy change which was to really push up into the court to counter the short, low balls.   This worked pretty good and NOCO stormed out to a 5-0, 40-15 lead.  Unfortunately the Bagel was denied and the set ended up 6-2 in NOCO’s favor.   A key shot in this set was a running lob hit deep to Stan’s backhand which Stan tried to take as an overhead.   As he hit his shot his racket ran smack into a low hanging tree branch!  

The turning point in the match!

The third set tiebreaker was close but NOCO was able to close it out 10-7.   Overall a good experience here.   As far as courts go we rate the surface a 4.5 mostly because it was dirty, had moss growing on it and a drop off on the back of the court.

The bounces though were good and we enjoyed playing here.  There are also bathrooms and a small picnic shelter.  The park is operated by the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors.   Other points of interest in the area are Bills Market which has a great meat counter that is worth the drive and The General Daniel Bissell Home.