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Atherton pickleball players are getting a boost. Amid growing demand for playing time at Holbrook-Palmer Park, the Atherton City Council directed staff to draw up plans to convert the facility’s only clay tennis court back into a hard court. This would create a dedicated hard court for tennis players and allow the mixed-use court to be used exclusively for pickleball.
Town officials also plan to update the park’s reservation policy to make it easier for pickleball players to get court time by expanding reservation access during tennis-only hours from one day to four days in advance.
“(It’s been) three years of asking for more, more, more pickleball, so we should give them more pickleball,” said Mayor Stacy Holland at the council meeting on July 15.
Holbrook-Palmer Park has six courts that include the clay tennis court and a dual use court for both tennis and pickleball. The facility began offering pickleball in January 2024, and last October, Court No.1 was re-striped to create an additional two pickleball courts, for a total of four.
Players can currently reserve Court No.1 for pickleball before noon every day, after 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and all day on Sundays. If there are no tennis reservations 24 hours in advance, the facility will open reservations to pickleball players.
At the meeting, residents expressed enthusiasm for converting the maintenance-plagued clay court into a hard court.
“(It) would solve a lot of the problems,” said Catherine Westover, a frequent user of Holbrook-Palmer Park’s pickleball court. Westover said that pickleball players often wait until midnight a week ahead to reserve the courts for weekend use.
M.J. Davey, another Atherton resident and pickleball player, said she wanted more opportunities to play in the afternoon due to her work schedule.
Longtime tennis player Bob Roeser said he considers the clay court dangerous and avoids playing on it after almost injuring himself.
“The obvious thing to give both sides more time is to make that court from a clay court to a hard court,” Roeser said. He suggested that the project be at least partially funded by pickleball players through donations.
Eva Chow practices tennis on a court at Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton on July 21, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
A clay tennis court next to a hard court at Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton on July 21, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray. 
People play pickleball on a court at Holbrook-Palmer Park in Atherton on July 21, 2026. Photo by Seeger Gray.
The town plans to pay for the project with money from its Tennis Fund, which Vice Mayor Rick DeGolia said has around $200,000, plus donations from residents.
“I think the right solution for us is to convert the clay court back to a hard court and to make Court No. 1, which is the shared pickleball court, a permanent pickleball court,” DeGolia said, later adding that while tennis players might lose some hours on Court No. 1, they’ll make up for it by gaining hours once the clay court is paved.
