The clay-court major of the PAR Universe, played on the plateau above Costa Mesa. Eleven courts of crushed red mesa stone, a stadium named for the first man to cross the plateau, and a cliffside court carved out of the rock itself.
The main stadium of Cabrillo, named for the first explorer to cross the Costa Mesa plateau. Its clay is crushed from mesa stone quarried a mile away, laid seven millimetres deep and rolled twice a day. A retractable roof seals the bowl in six minutes when the coastal fog climbs the cliff, and the second-week night sessions are played under warm amber light.
One hundred and fourteen seats, and not one of them was built. The court sits on a natural shelf at the lip of the mesa: the playing surface is the ground itself, swept and rolled into clay, and every row of seating is carved straight out of the rock behind it. Beyond the far baseline the plateau simply ends, and the whole of downtown Costa Mesa opens up below.
There is no roof, no scoreboard tower and no advertising. When the wind comes off the water in the late afternoon, play pauses until it settles. It is the smallest court at any major in the universe and, by common agreement, the most beautiful.
One stadium, one cliffside show court and nine field courts, all cut into the plateau above Costa Mesa. Every surface is the same crushed mesa clay with chalk-white lines. A grounds map arrives closer to the draw.
Every major in the PAR Universe plants something at its net posts. At Cabrillo it is the cactus — two at each post of every net across the grounds, twenty-two in total, each one raised on the plateau and set in a carved stone pot the groundstaff cut by hand.
They stay out through the fortnight, wind and fog and all, and the pair from centre court goes home with the champion on the final Sunday.
Loading… · scoring mirrored from ESPN
Seven sessions on sale for the 2027 fortnight. Prices are per seat in Paradise dollars.
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