HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
155
Regarding artificial grass courts, these courts require frequent attention, e.g. watering to lower the temperature of the plastic surface. The Council has installed two artificial sand-filled grass tennis courts on the roof-top of Choi Hung Road Playground Badminton Centre. The reason for this is that hard courts are not suitable for roof-top because they would crack due to thermal expansion of the roof structure.
Regarding clay courts, they require intensive maintenance such as rolling, levelling, watering and brooming, etc, in order to maintain a neat and uniform surface. In Hong Kong's climatic condition, this surface does not stand up well when used heavily. Also, important tournaments played on clay courts are relatively few except the French Open.
At present, the Council has no plans to convert any of its tennis courts into either natural grass or clay courts. This is because hard courts are, by comparison, easier to maintain and more suitable for Hong Kong's climatic conditions. Conversely, natural grass or clay courts are difficult and costly to maintain. Furthermore, hard courts are preferred by Hong Kong Tennis Association and the general public and the courts are versatile enough to be used for different standards of play. To-date, no request has been received for construction of clay or grass courts. Should there be a demand, the Department will consult the Council for advice.
Mr. Eric Wong Chung-ki (in Cantonese):—I would like to ask some follow-up questions and make some clarifications. Firstly, I would like to clarify that at the Four Grand Slam events, at least over half of the tournaments are not played on hard courts. Secondly, in the reply it is over-stressed that hard courts are widely used internationally and that clay courts and grass courts are relatively seldom used, but in fact, apart from the 'Four Grand Slams', many professional tennis tournaments such as the ATP men's division and the WTA professional women's division are also played on clay courts or grass courts. I am not saying that most of our hard courts should be converted into clay or grass courts. I just wonder why almost all our courts are hard courts. Why doesn't the Council consider building some clay courts or natural grass courts in order to offer more choice to the tennis players? So I would like to ask the Council whether it will consult the Hong Kong Tennis Association and consider converting some of the 16 tennis courts at the Aberdeen Tennis Centre, which is the biggest tennis centre in Hong Kong, to clay or grass courts?
Ms. GRACE AU YUK-HAR (in Cantonese):—As Mr. Eric WONG Chung-ki has provided us with some supplementary information, I think we should discuss the issue further with the Hong Kong Tennis Association to see whether there is a need to convert some of the UC tennis courts into other types. This suggestion is worth our consideration. We will follow it up.
(2) Mr. Tam Kwok-KIU asked the following question (in Cantonese):— At present, the Urban Council has installed a computerised SPORTIX system for
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