The courts at the Royal Tennis Club de Belgique, where tennis legends including Björn Borg and John McEnroe once played, will be replaced with a focus on another racket sport: padel.
The tennis temple is the oldest indoor tennis court of its kind in Belgium. The 70-year-old building housing the club itself is a listed monument near Avenue Louise.
International tennis history has been made on its three courts, around which there is space for a thousand onlookers. Some Davis Cup matches were played there, as well as games by icons such as Rod Laver, Björn Borg, Boris Becker and John McEnroe.
However, tennis balls have not been hit back and forth over the net for some time now, as in April this year, the building was bought over by the business group Tero, which owns the homonymous popular eatery in Saint-Gilles.
The company plans to turn the historic site into a padel tennis centre in September as the sport – a mix of tennis and squash – has been gaining momentum since the pandemic, including in Brussels.
Padel is booming in Belgium. Credit: Belga/ Laurie Dieffembacq
However, there is a lack of padel clubs in the region, due to the lack of space and concerns of locals regarding noise pollution, which in the past has seen locals protest the courts.
Preserving history
In the coming weeks, the business, which also runs a successful padel club in Waterloo, will convert the three tennis courts into seven padel courts, while adapting the building to today's needs by modernising the clubhouse and replacing the furniture throughout the complex.
Director at Tero, Frédéric Gautier, did stress to Bruzz that the authenticity and history of the site will be preserved, including by renovating the royal stand, where the king used to come to watch tennis.
Across the country, padel is taking up space as tennis is losing popularity, and more and more often, padel clubs are replacing tennis clubs.
