Golf legend Greg Norman (The Great White Shark) and tennis legend Chris Evert are now playing active roles in the promotion of sports tourism in the Dominican Republic. Greg Norman was first contracted to build a PGA quality golf course at Costa Blanca by the Metro residential community in Juan Dolio in the southeast. He teamed up with his old friend Chris Evert to build tennis centers at vacation-residential developments around the world, and their work brought them closer together, to the point where they got married this year.
At the Mandarin Oriental in Miami this week, Norman’s new wife Chris Evert announced that Costa Blanca by Metro would get a Chris Evert Tennis Center with 10 clay courts, including one housed in a professional mini-stadium. Evert will be involved in the selection of the center’s tennis pros. The tennis center will be the first Chris Evert Tennis Center in the Caribbean.
“This is the only project in the Dominican Republic where the tennis center has an actual brand. This makes it very unique and with Greg on the golf course design and me on the tennis center, it’s definitely a family affair,” she said at the presentation in Miami.
Juan Dolio is a 40-minute drive east from Santo Domingo, and 20 minutes from Las Americas International Airport (SDQ).
Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garcia traveled to Miami to be present at the announcement.
Costa Blanca by Metro, the highly anticipated oceanfront development by Group Metro, also includes a world-class marina, a marina village, oceanfront condominiums, villas, a private beach and the exclusive founders club. The first signature Greg Norman course is an 18-hole par 72 course with 8 seafront holes along the Caribbean Sea.