EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Families stepped onto a newly rehabbed tennis court in East St. Louis on Saturday.
The East St. Louis Community Tennis Association recently received a special grant to spruce things up at its tennis courts at Lincoln Park.
"I feel like with clean facilities and good facilities to practice, it makes you want to do better," East St. Louis High School student athlete Shawn Combs Jr said. "It makes you want to practice and get that grind on."
Combs was out at the park at 606 S 15th St with his entire family Saturday afternoon.
"My daughter Phoenix. She kind of picked up tennis. So we were like, 'If you going to play. Everybody is going to have to play.' So all of us got into it, and man, we just love it." Combs's father said.
Shawn Combs Sr. said he was pleased to see the productivity from the city and partnerships that made the recreational space possible, noting the recreation opportunity the development gives to children in the area
During a special ribbon cutting event, the East St. Louis Community Tennis Association announced it had been awarded a $14,000 grant from the USTA as part of the organization's US Open Legacy Initiative, which was created in celebration of Coco Gauff's 2023 US Open women's singles title.
ESLCTA members said that money, in addition to funds from the state, was used to resurface the tennis courts at Lincoln Park.
"Tennis is booming right now, and we are at the grassroots level of it," said Kimberly Hughes-Gill, treasurer for the ESLCTA. "We had to be able to build an infrastructure of programming through the elementary level— build a feeder system going into the high school level. We currently have an East St. Louis High School girl's team, but there's no boy's team. We are looking to develop that."
Also during the event, the ESLCTA announced that the courts were named after the late Al Penelton, a native East St. Louisan and USTA Umpire. He was known worldwide for his officiating.
"He would just be so happy [with] where tennis has come in East St. Louis," Penelton's daughter Julia Willingham said. "I'm so happy that young people will be able to enjoy tennis. Because it's coming into the schools, more and more people would be able to pursue tennis."
The last time the courts were renovated to meet standards was in the fall of 2017.