J Courts Builds on a Family Legacy in Court Construction

For Diane Halstead, tennis court construction has been part of life for as long as she can remember.

The CEO of J Courts grew up around the industry through Welch Tennis Courts, the company operated by her family for decades. Today, J Courts is establishing its own identity while carrying forward experience accumulated across three generations.

“We are a third-generation tennis court company,” Halstead told Florida Tennis. “We stemmed off of Welch Tennis Courts, which was my family’s company for decades.”

Halstead and her team spent approximately 20 years working within Welch Tennis Courts, where they ran the company’s clay court division and managed construction crews. Although J Courts had existed as a business name throughout that period, it largely operated under the Welch umbrella. That changed following the sale of Welch in April 2025, when J Courts began operating independently.

“We’ve had J Courts as a name for the 21 years that we’ve been in business now,” Halstead said.

The transition represents a new chapter for the company, but Halstead’s connection to court construction goes much further back.

“Since I was nine years old, I had test courts going in our backyard of how to build a subsurface court,” she recalled. “It’s been in our bloodline forever.”

One subject Halstead believes deserves more attention among club owners and tennis directors is how much the construction process can vary from one builder to another.

While two companies may work with similar surface products or systems, she explained, the finished courts can be different depending on how those materials are installed.

“What a lot of tennis directors are not aware of—and it’s kind of a problem in the industry that needs to be talked about—is that different builders will take the same product and they will build the court differently,” Halstead said.

Much of that difference lies underneath the visible playing surface.

Halstead said J Courts’ standard construction includes 5.5 inches of compacted screenings, a minimum 20-mil liner, 30 drains per court and one inch of clay. In Florida in particular, she says the amount of screenings underneath the clay plays an important role in distributing and retaining moisture across the court.

These are details that players may never see, but Halstead says they can have a significant impact on how a court functions over time.

She has also seen situations where J Courts has been contacted to address issues with relatively new courts built by other contractors.

“When you look at one builder to another, it’s not always whoever’s the cheapest,” Halstead said. “It’s who has a reputation for building good-quality courts and who guarantees their work.”

For club owners and directors comparing bids, Halstead believes understanding exactly what is included in each proposal is particularly important.

As J Courts has developed independently, the company has also introduced its own subsurface clay court system, HydroPRO Court.

“We have our own product called HydroPRO Court,” Halstead said. “It’s very similar to the grid system except for a couple of positive things that have come out of it.”

According to Halstead, the system incorporates changes to areas including the liner, warranty and canister size.

The product is part of a broader area that Halstead believes tennis professionals should become more familiar with: understanding not only how to maintain a clay court, but also how different subsurface systems function.

“A lot of the directors come in, they learn how to play tennis, but they aren’t learning how to maintain clay courts,” she said.

For Halstead, that knowledge can be valuable for professionals who eventually become responsible for an entire racquet facility.

“I think it’s really good for the directors to broaden their education to understand what they’re doing,” she added. 

While much of the conversation around court construction centers on materials and installation, Halstead says customer service remains an equally important part of how J Courts operates.

That philosophy, she says, comes directly from her family’s experience at Welch Tennis Courts.

“A lot of people have always known Welch to have this great service and customer service,” Halstead said. “That’s what always set them apart, and we’ve taken those same values and brought them into our company.”

For J Courts, that includes staying in contact with facilities after a project has been completed.

“Even though the contract’s done, we still want them to call us if they have a problem,” she said. “We’re not just done and gone. We’re still here for them.”

Halstead said many tennis professionals and facility operators have either her personal number or that of her husband, James, allowing them to contact the company directly when an issue arises.

“We have customers text us, call us weekends, during the day, and we’re always available to our customers,” she said. “There’s more of a small, family-owned business vibe going on with our company.”

That approach also extends to how projects are handled around existing facilities. Halstead recalled situations where the company purchased additional equipment so crews could access courts without risking damage to sidewalks and other areas surrounding the facility.

“There’s got to be some care for each customer,” she said. “You’ve got to take the time to give them the attention that they need.” 

Despite its long connection to the Florida tennis community, J Courts’ work is not limited to the state.

“We don’t just service Florida,” Halstead said. “We actually are nationwide.”

She pointed to recent projects in Colorado as well as work in states including Louisiana and Texas.

The company has also become involved with organizations within the racquet sports industry, including the RSPA, while supporting educational opportunities for tennis professionals.

For Halstead, those relationships offer another way to share the knowledge her family has accumulated through decades of building and maintaining courts.

And while the J Courts name is becoming increasingly familiar within the industry, its origin was surprisingly simple.

Halstead’s husband is named James, and when the couple needed a business name years ago, they took the first letter of his name and added “Courts.”

“We just took the J off of that and were like, ‘J Courts,’” Halstead said. “Never thought in one minute it would ever be used anywhere in the industry.”

More than two decades later, the name has taken on considerably greater significance.

As J Courts moves forward independently, Halstead sees the company’s family history, construction experience and relationships with tennis professionals as the foundation for its next stage of growth.