Naples - the site of the US Open

From The Villages to pickleball mecca...

Eight days ago, I left pickleball heaven in The Villages, as I wrote about in Saturday's post The Villages.  After zigzagging around Florida - South Beach, Sarasota, and Naples - I visited pickleball mecca at East Naples Community Park, the site of April's US Open. The East Naples Winter Classic was being played and I got lots of photos of NC friends...and others. Check back tomorrow for those. Today's post is about the facility.

The walk from the parking lot is dominated by the huge tent-like canopy over a section of courts.

It does not get any smaller when viewed from the end.

The canopy looks a little different than the typical view as depicted from the US Open (see the small photo that opens this post). It was very windy while I was there. The end panel tie-downs were loosened to allow it to balloon out.  This is evident from the side view shown in my first photo but also is evident when trying to read the panel.

But the best part is that there are courts everywhere. I turned and there were courts in every direction. I am aware of 40 courts in use for the tournament nd there may have been more.

I thought places like this only existed in my dreams. they are reality in Naples, Florida.