Four tennis courts and a clubhouse were inaugurated on February 9, 2023 on Ylanan Street, UP Diliman, the newest additions to the rising UP Diliman Sports Complex.
Members of the UP tennis varsity teams, the main beneficiaries of the construction project, witnessed the ribbon cutting and unveiling of the marker, which were led by outgoing UP President Danilo Concepcion and District Engineer Ramon Devanadera of the implementing agency, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
With the facility in place, “we hope to generate stronger support for our tennis program and athletes,” Concepcion said during his welcome remarks.
UPD College of Human Kinetics Dean Francis Carlos Diaz had earlier presented members of the UP Men and Women’s Tennis Varsity Teams to Concepcion and expressed their thanks to him for pushing for the project.
According to the marker, the facility was built to be “a premier training venue promoting the highest standard of play in tennis for UP athletes and students and a space for recreational play fostering healthy and active lifestyles for the UP community.”
UP Diliman Chancellor Fidel Nemenzo spoke about the “tradition of tennis” on the Diliman campus, with the old tennis courts dating back to the 1950s. These became centers of community activity even for those who did not play tennis, he added. Nemenzo thanked the Concepcion administration and the DPWH for the project that is in line with his vision of promoting “total academic development” and “an integrated sports development.”
Although the courts were ready, the 10,865-square-meter project had yet to be fully finished. Upon completion, “the new UP Diliman Tennis Courts and Clubhouse will be an International Tennis Federation (ITF) compliant lawn tennis construction project,” according to the project brief.
“The development [features] a horizontally sprawling clubhouse structure crowned by the playing ground with four acrylic courts.” The large width of the hallway of the clubhouse would serve as a lounging and spectators’ area during games. It has space for administrative offices, storage areas, lockers, toilets, showers, and a 50-seater classroom.
UP Diliman’s old tennis courts, located at the corner of Osmeña and Roces streets at the Academic Oval, have been a “shared sanctuary” of different tennis-based organizations, including the UP Tennis Club and the Tennis UP Organization. Aside from being far from the master-planned UPD sports complex, “the facility is severely lacking in amenities to support the amount of customers it serves,” according to the project brief. “This could be seen in the lack of provisions for storage and lockers where stocks have overflowed into the locker room. The locker room, a single caged enclose for males and females, is an exposed room that contains 50 units of lockers shared by both varsity athletes and visitors who want to rent storage space. The washrooms are also insufficient relative to the occupant number.”
Devanadera expressed the hope “that fruitful cooperation between DPWH and the University will continue to flourish.” He congratulated Concepcion for the series of UP-DPWH infrastructure projects accomplished during his presidency. The UPD tennis courts and clubhouse project was initially funded during the term of UP President Alfredo Pascual.
