By: Zachary Lohn
MTN Sports Reporter
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. –The new $5.8 million complex breaks ground soon. If you have ever driven down Middle Tennessee Blvd., you may have noticed that the courts seem to be cut in half. This will change soon as the Middle Tennessee Men’s and Women’s tennis.
The facilities change the landscape of the teams. “It’s a big step up when we are recruiting and comparing our facilities to other high-level programs,” according to Women’s Head Coach Tayo Bailey-Duvall.
The facilities are going to include eight tennis courts and a viewing stand for spectators to watch the match.
The new complex will have a locker room for the teams, something that is lacking at the Adam’s Tennis Complex, where the tennis team’s currently played. Men’s Head Coach Jimmy Borendame said that even though the ATC is a great place to play, “it’s home, but it’s not home.”
The ATC is a facility which is a couple miles away from campus. “To be able to walk out of class… and come and train is going to be huge,” is something that Borendame is excited about.
The facilities are also going to be great for the students as well. “Some kids don’t know where Adam’s is,” Coach Bailey-Duvall said that this is something that can help get the students on campus involved.
Both coaches acknowledged that they try to get the students involved as much as they can through promotions but playing away from MTSU makes it hard for students to attend the matches.
The “future home” of Blue Raider Tennis is going to be built by a company based out of Mississippi named WBA Architecture. They are the architects behind the Mississippi State University baseball field and their indoor tennis courts.
WBA was granted the project by the State of Tennessee after they put forward the best bid out of any other competing company. The new complex will break ground in July, and Coach Borndame said that, “he is going to throw a party” because that means that it is real.