Yale Tennis Center is Year’s Best

CENTERBROOK, Conn. -- The Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center at Yale University has received the 2009 Indoor Tennis Facility of the Year Award, the American Sports Builders Association announced recently. Previously, the U.S. Tennis Association recognized the Center with an Outstanding Facilities Award.

Mark Simon, Partner-in-Charge, and Sue Wyeth, Project Manager, of Centerbrook Architects designed the new Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center, doubling the number of indoor courts from four to eight and establishing a new central viewing lobby and welcoming entrance with a dynamic canopy. The re-born center is widely credited with bringing the Intercollegiate National Indoor Tennis Championship to Yale in 2009.

Global Sports & Tennis Design Group, LLC of Fair Haven, New Jersey worked with Centerbrook on the project.

Reviews from coaches, fans, and players have been glowing. “The first time I walked into the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center I was unbelievably impressed with it, the overall design, the graphics, the team rooms, with everything,” said David Geatz, who coaches Cornell University’s Women’s Tennis. “My teams have played all around the country, and this is the nicest facility of them all. It has a really nice college feel to it.”

Professional tennis player and Pilot Pen Champion James Blake, who has practiced at the facility, concurred: “The tennis center at Yale is wonderfully designed and fits perfectly for a college dual match. I think it will be the site of many memorable matches for the Eli's.” That is high praise, indeed, coming from a Harvard man.