TECT Arena's transformation from swish indoor stadium to state-of-the-art international tennis court is complete - although the New Zealand Davis Cup team might have to hold off until the paint dries on the kitset-style playing surface before unleashing their first practice serve.
Non-playing New Zealand Davis Cup captain Marcel Vos and his team arrive in Tauranga today to begin preparing for next weekend's Asia-Oceania group one tie against Uzbekistan, with Vos having a heavy hand in the set-up of the kitset-style playing surface used for the past three Davis Cup ties in New Zealand.
Comprising tiles of Rebound Ace Synpave, the court was employed most recently in New Zealand's 5-0 defeat of the Philippines in the Asia/Oceania relegation fixture at Hawera last July, and in the two previous home Cup ties at New Plymouth.
Mark Slane, designer of the kitset surface, was yesterday painting the lines on the acrylic surface overlaid on 320 1.2m x 2.4m tri-board sheets that lock together to create a seamless playing surface.
Slane is a director of Hardwood Technology, the company that was also behind the 2500sqm springboard floor in the arena's main sporting court, with individual European beech batons placed on top of support batons, with a rubber footing attached to them spaced 400mm apart.
Vos had asked for a brushed rather than smooth surface on the Rebound Ace acrylic to create greater kick and bounce.
"We've had the playing surface that way for the last few ties and had some success so there's merit in keeping it like that," Vos said yesterday. "A rough surface gives more bounce and suits our guys."
The portable floor systems were developed initially in Europe but Slane's was born from trial and error after an initial call from Tennis New Zealand to Rebound Ace in Australia.
"There was a bit of experience of portable floor systems out of Europe but everyone who develops their own keeps it pretty much to themselves. So we started pretty much from scratch, although we also do a portable basketball court so we had an idea of how it might all lock together."
The tri-board sheets were milled out of Kaitaia and arrived via New Plymouth in a 40-foot container. Slane said they developed a tongue-and-groove interlocking system and had that lying down pat, with the court down in a day-and-a-half compared with the four days it took the first time it was used.
"It helped that we already had a working knowledge of this arena and this facility is superb - we parked the container outside, one of the tennis clubs got involved with voluntary labour and we made light work of it."
Slane backed away from initial plans for a two-tone dark/light blue playing surface and surrounds because of the extra time it would take for the spraypainted court to dry. A smooth playing surface would have also involved extra work, with the court now boasting eight layers of paint - the original surface and residual coats.
"The surface might look a bit rough but these guys are super aggressive and will slide 2m on it if they want to ... to be fair the interlocking is always a bit scary because we didn't know how well the panels would slide together after it was used once. The key is ensuring the panels stay flat because it's all very well interlocking but, as the boards start to bow and buckle, then they become useless.
"Everything's strapped up and moisture sealed when it's packed away because the boards can sit in a container for a year sweating away."
A portable net system sits off the sides of the court, with a steel beam running the width of the court along the bottom of the net.
"Every time we pull the court out of the container, I'm worried it won't look as good, but now the net is up and the lines painted it has exceeded expectations."
Official practice for both teams begins on Monday but Vos won't finalise his line-up until Thursday's draw, with Michael Venus a certainty for one singles spot and Rubin Statham tipped to head off Russian-born Artem Sitak for the other. Venus and Dan King-Turner will play in Saturday's doubles.
Uzbekistan No 1 and world No 57 Denis Istomin beat Statham in straight sets in the first round of an ATP Challenger event in Tasmania this week before pulling out with a wrist injury, although Vos suspects a bit of gamesmanship at play.
"He looked fine to me when I saw him - there were no signs of any injury against Rubin or in the doubles match I watched him lose. Maybe he was keen to come over to New Zealand early or maybe there's genuinely an issue but we're treating it as if he's 100 per cent."
Davis Cup schedule
Friday Feb 10: 2.45pm opening ceremony, 3pm matches start, 2 singles rubbers.
Saturday Feb 11: 3pm doubles
Sunday Feb 12: 11am two singles rubbers.
Tickets and corporate tables are available from the TECT Arena, Tauranga or phone Tennis New Zealand on (09) 528-5428. Purchase online via the www.tennisnz.com or www.dashtickets.com