Sportime Port Washington, then known as the Port Washington Tennis Academy, was go-to place in the 1970s and 1980s where stars like John and Patrick McEnroe played with Vitas Gerulaitis and Mary Carillo.
But the academy fell into disarray over the past two decades, and in 2023, the Zausner family sold the facility to Sportime.
The new owners now seek to return the facility to past glory with a $7 million renovation.
“It’s one of the first real tennis academies in the world back in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” Sportime Port Washington tennis director Jay Harris said. “There is so much history in this building, and unfortunately, for the last 20 years, it hasn’t received the TLC that is needed for proper upkeep.”
Sportime Port Washington is the newest location of Sportime’s John McEnroe Tennis Academy, which provides coaching and training to aspiring tennis players.
Renovations began in the fall of 2023. Most of the upgrades were completed earlier this summer, and a few more projects are wrapping up.
“We wanted to just make it great again, with everything from a new HVAC system to new ceilings, lighting, new bathrooms, new locker rooms and more,” Harris said. “The renovation essentially included every part of the inside of the building.”
The renovation included reorganizing the space usage of the courts to include pickleball and tennis courts. In one wing of the building, there were four hard courts for tennis, and in another wing, there were 13 har-tru courts, clay courts.
“So what we did is we took those four hard courts and actually transformed those into a world-class pickleball facility,” Harris said. “It’s now 12 professional tournament-quality pickleball courts. And we have had so many events there already this year, it’s been super nice.”
Harris said six of the other 13 courts have been renovated to become hard tennis courts, allowing a proper tennis academy to operate. The other seven clay courts have also been completely redone.
“We felt we really do still need both hard courts and clay courts to run one of the top tennis academies in the country,” Harris said.
The John McEnroe Tennis Academy now runs at five or Sportimes six sites. The significant upgrades to the Port Washington location offer high-level junior programming for all levels and ages.
“So we’ve had a great first year at the Academy with a level of play overall and then just the number of kids we’ve been able to help across the area,” Harris said.
Previously, the building wasn’t air-conditioned, and the academy closed for most of the summers due to the heat. With the new HVAC system, the building is now air-conditioned, allowing the academy to stay open in the summer to run summer camps and host adult groups.
Last summer, Sportime was beginning the renovations. Aside from a few courts open here and there, none of the groups or camps were officially able to run.
“But this summer, we have been fully operational,” Harris said. “We have been running a big summer camp, adult programs, USTA league matches, lots of private lessons and other tennis group lessons throughout the day.”
Players from all over Long Island and beyond come to the Port Washington facility to use the new courts and training opportunities.
At the end of June, Sportime hosted a college exposure event called the JMT Combine for high school tennis athletes to be seen by college coaches.
“We had over a hundred college coaches involved and played from across the world come in,” Harris said. “We had one boy from China who came for the exposure program and then stayed for a month after to train with us.”
While the renovations are primarily complete, Sportime is currently installing golf simulators.
“It’s another opportunity for our members to take advantage of, especially in the winter,” Harris said.
Sportime charges a monthly membership fee, and members receive benefits such as discounts for private lessons. However, non-members can still reserve court time and lessons with a separate pricing option.
Harris said that as the academy grows, it also wants to serve the Port Washington community more.
“We’re definitely looking to get involved in a lot of community service, and we’re working towards securing major funding for that,” Harris said. “That’ll be a huge aspect of our position in the community. It’s something that we’re excited about.”
To learn more about what Sportime offers, visit sportimeny.com/PortWashington
