At the Sportsmen’s Tennis & Enrichment Center in Dorchester's Harambee Park, you know tennis is taken seriously. Players as young as 5 hold their rackets and focus like professionals. They dress and act like Olympic contenders. The center has 14 courts and is surrounded by what seems like endless green space. That’s why Boston 2024 thought it was a perfect place to host the best players from around the world.
Harambee Park was slated to host tennis if the 2024 Summer Olympics made it to Boston. The improvements that the games would have brought to the community by way of infrastructure are now gone, after Mayor Walsh announced he could not sign on in support of the games if it meant taxpayers would be on the hook. Community members say they hope conversations about improving the area will continue.
The center's executive director, Toni Wiley, says the summer games weren’t even on her radar, so she was excited when Boston 2024 approached her about the possibility of tennis here.
"If the [Olympic] tennis had taken place, the conversations we were having had to do with the lighting the and facilities around Blue Hill Ave and Talbot Avenue and really making improvements to that area," she said.
Wiley says she was confused when she watched Boston Mayor Marty Walsh’s announcement on Monday that he wasn’t prepared to keep taxpayers on the hook for cost overruns.
"The main thing that went through my mind was how did we get to the point where there was a major decision that had to take place on July 27th?" she said.
But his announcement was not a shock to everyone. Willie Hicks Jr., owner of Hicks Auto Body, right across the street from the park, wasn't surprised by the mayor's announcement.
"I think Mayor Walsh had to make a very tough decision based on the facts — specifications that were presented to him," Hicks said.
Hicks says the possibility of putting Dorchester on the international stage would have been great.
"This would have been a pretty good coup for this area," he said.
Even more disappointed are people like 19-year-old Diandrea Galloway, who's been playing at the Sportsmen's Tennis Center since she was a toddler. For her, the summer games would have been an opportunity of a lifetime.
"Seeing the athletes and the tourists you’d see, different people from all around the world," she said.
Now she says she’ll have to travel to whatever city wins the Olympics bid to have that experience.
"I actually think its kind of disappointing," she said. "I think everybody was kind of looking forward to it."
