Tucked away in the outskirts of Martinborough, past the vineyards and rolling hills of Wairarapa you'll find what could be one of the most important pieces of tennis infrastructure in this country.
The Dry River Tennis Centre is New Zealand's only public clay court facility complete with on site accommodation and a soon to be finished gym area too.
The court's the brain child of tennis coach Jacob Emery who looked to combine his passion and a desire to live in the countryside roughly three years ago.
"The idea here is that players can come here on a regular basis get access to clay and keep developing that side to their game so then when they do go to Europe they can make the most of that opportunity," says Emery.
The wine country in the lower North Island is the perfect place to yield new tennis talent.
"Part of the reason we came to Martinborough is because we're in a rain shadow, it has low rainfall and that's also what the vineyards are after."
The concept came after conversations with Tennis NZ. Emery honed in on clay and it's potential to enhance player development, and opened the court late last year.
"Clay is the surface the vast majority of professionals have trained on when they're younger and there's a lot of substiles that add up when you combine them all," says Emery.
"For example the court is a little bit slippier so that challenges your balance, the ball bounces higher and slower so the rallies go on and you have to use more strategy rather than relying on pace to hit through the court.
"Each of these things add up to help with your strategy, your fitness, your movement, clay responds more to spin so you're encouraged to spin the ball more, all these things help you be a better player," says the Dry River Tennis Centre founder.
The clay court has even attracted overseas coaches to work in the Wairarapa. South African Rudo Erasmus was lured by the surface's potential.
With clay courts being a rarity in the southern hemisphere, Erasmus believes it will be a point of difference for up and coming players.
"If New Zealand wants to compete on the international stage they have to develop players that can play on clay because a lot of the top 100 players in the world started on clay," says Erasmus.
"I think it will give New Zealand a bit of an edge when they play countries like Australia, they'll have an advantage with the kids because they started developing on clay."
Current world number ones Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek both grew up playing on the red surface as well as legends of tennis like Rafael Nadal and Chris Evert.
"Even players that are dominant on faster courts like Roger Federer, he grew up on clay," says Emery.
It's precisely this reason why Dry River Tennis Centre is opening it's doors to other coaches.
"We want to bring in any coaches and players that want to use it, rent the accommodation and do their own programmes too," says Emery.
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