Okay so last Thursday happened. Woke up ready to crush some serves, right? Grabbed my racket, energy drink, the whole nine yards. Pulled into the club parking lot… and boom. Spotted puddles everywhere. Like, tiny lakes on the baseline. Total downer. The sign just said “Courts Closed – Wet Surface”. No info on when they’d open. How long? An hour? Five hours? No clue. Seriously annoying.
Fed Up & Starting My Little Experiment
Got tired of just staring at puddles. Decided, forget waiting blindly next time. Went straight home and hit up my shed. Dug out some random stuff: this old fluffy bath towel (super thick), a regular kitchen towel, that weird plastic stuff painters sometimes use, a stiff push broom, and even the squeegie my roommate uses on the shower glass. Basically, anything that looked like it might slurp up or push water.
Saturday morning, perfect! We’d had rain overnight. Courts were soaked again. This was my moment.
Just Letting Nature Do Its Thing
First, I picked two similar puddles near the net. Didn’t touch one at all. Just sat there like a weirdo with my phone timer, snapping pics every 10 minutes. Felt like forever. Honestly? That untouched puddle took like two hours and fifteen minutes to just become a sticky damp spot you wouldn’t want to run on. Forget playing!
My “Magic” Methods (Spoiler: Some Actually Worked)
Meanwhile, for the other puddles:
- The Big Towel Mop: Laid that giant bath towel on the puddle, stomped on it hard, kinda blotting. Lifted it up – wow, pulled up a ton of water. Did it a couple times. Checked the spot: gone! But then the towel was soaked through and useless for the next puddle. Plus, heavy and messy to carry around.
- Kitchen Towel Dab: Smaller towel, easier to handle. Dabbed quickly. It got the surface water okay, but underneath? Still wet, took way longer to fully dry than the big towel spot. Maybe 45 minutes saved?
- The Plastic Wrap Trick: This was weird. Laid that thin plastic stuff painters use over a puddle, smoothed it out. Hoped the sun would somehow cook it underneath. Nope. Barely did anything. Just trapped steam, and when I peeled it off later? Still a wet mess beneath. Pointless.
- Push Broom Attack: Started shoving water with the stiff bristles. Works great on flat courts! Scattered the puddle wide, super thin. Sun hit it fast. Was bone dry in maybe 20 minutes? Loved this! BUT… then I hit a slightly rough patch near the fence. Water just… hid in the cracks. The broom couldn’t reach it. Needed backup.
- Squeegie to the Rescue: Grabbed the shower squeegie. Awesome at herding water! Pushed the puddle beautifully into a run-off area. Fast too. Then found that leftover water near the fence where the broom failed. Squeegied it right out. Boom, done. Probably 30 minutes to dry playable vs hours.
What Actually Saved Me Time?
So here’s the real deal after playing with water for half a weekend:
- Sunning helps, but alone? Takes forever, especially with thick clay like ours.
- Big towels work fast for one spot but suck for multiple or big areas.
- Small towels? Quick dabs, not a solution.
- Plastic? Forget it. Total waste.
- Push Broom + Squeegie Combo? Winner! Broom scatters most water super thin, squeegie herds the rest hiding in corners or rough spots. Used together? Got a whole service box dried down to damp in maybe 20 minutes, playable in under 45. That beats waiting 2+ hours!
Why bother with all this? Because last summer, I saw a guy trip hard on a “looks dry” spot near the baseline, sprained his ankle bad. Waited weeks to play again. Know what was under that slightly darker patch? Trapped water his shoe sunk into. That image stuck. If I can shave an hour or two off waiting safely? Yeah, I’ll be that weirdo with a broom and squeegie!