The Canada Stadium in Ramat Hasharon

Ramat Hasharon

Ramat HaSharon is a city located on Israel's central coastal strip in the south of the Sharon region, bordering Tel Aviv to the south and Herzliya and Kibbutz Glil Yam to the north. It is part of the Tel Aviv District, within Gush Dan metropolitan area...

 is the main tennis

Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 venue in Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 and is used mainly by the Israeli Davis Cup

Israel Davis Cup team

The Israel Davis Cup team represents Israel in Davis Cup tennis competition and is governed by the Israel Tennis Association....

 and Fed Cup

Israel Fed Cup team

The Israel Fed Cup team is the representative national team of Israel in Fed Cup competition. In the 2007 Fed Cup, they qualified from the World Group II and World Group Play-offs to reach the elite World Group for the first time in the team's history. They will participate within this group at...

 teams.

History

Canada Stadium, seating 6,000 spectators, opened in 1977 on land that had been an old strawberry patch, which was given to the Israel Tennis Centers

Israel Tennis Centers

Israel Tennis Centers is the largest tennis program for children in the world, reaching more than 350,000 families—5% of the Israeli population...

(ITC) by the government.http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066544/index.htm It was part of an ITC project that included the opening of 13 other tennis centres in the country. After the opening, floodlights were added to the court, so that play could continue into the night.

The stadium is the "main court" of the tennis centre at Ramat Hasharon, which is the biggest in the country. A large number of up-and-coming Israeli tennis professionals regularly train at the centre, as well as some top-quality players.

Future extension

On December 20, 2007, it was announced that the capacity of the stadium would increase to around 9,000, by 2012. It is estimated that the total cost of the project will be around $4 million. Also, a roof will be installed over the court, so that play will be able to continue in the event of rain.