DC Council budgets $9.6M to renovate Rock Creek Tennis Center, help keep pro tennis coming to city

The D.C. Council is budgeting almost $10 million for the Rock Creek Tennis Center renovation project, though the property’s management is unclear going forward.

D.C. leaders aim to fix up the aging venue to help provide a future of professional tennis in the nation’s capital. The council approved $9 million in spending last year, and it added another $600,000 this year. 

However, residents are concerned about why the city would allocate money to improve the tennis center without knowledge about the logistics of how that money will be spent or who will spend it, according to WAMU.

The center's land has been part of the National Park Service in the past. At first, the district planned to redo the 39-acre site and take over management from the federal agency. But negotiations on the plan fell through, causing NPS to search for a private operator to lease the land to make the repairs.

Mark Ein, businessman and owner of the annual pro tournament the D.C. Open, is the clear contender. 

He has expressed interest in doing an overhaul of the facility. The center has required extensive temporary work each year for the tournament, and officials in the tennis world have warned that it may lose its ability to host professional events if not renovated.

Council member Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist poised to next year become the city's next mayor, represents the neighborhoods surrounding the tennis center. 

She said the new money in the budget was included without her knowledge, and she is confused by its purpose.

“We can’t just be allocating District dollars without real specificity around what those dollars are going to, especially when it’s not our land,” Lewis George also said.

She plans to include language in legislation supporting the budget to include “guardrails” ensuring any money spent on the project is only devoted to “bring the center up to professional standards.”

On Tuesday afternoon, the D.C. council voted to approve the fiscal 2027 Budget Support Emergency Act. 

Members removed a prior transfer law and approved a subsection to set up direct grant funding to whoever leases the facility, specifically for capital improvements needed to keep it eligible to host professional tennis tournaments, according to council documents.