The lockdown restrictions tennis players just can’t understand

Having had their winter league season curtailed, and the summer season abandoned completely, the area’s estimated 500+ league players, together with many more casual social players, had hoped that they would be allowed to continue to play outdoors with one other person, as they had been when Portsmouth was moved into tier 4.

So as the region’s players and clubs move back to square one, it is worth asking: How has everyone coped so far, and what happens next?

There are, of course, many different types of club. Some are large, with professional and paid management teams, and there is just about every variation from that down to small village clubs run by a few volunteers.

One thing that a lot have in common is they charge an annual membership fee, often payable on April 1.

There were significant fears that the original enforced mid-March closure of all facilities would result in members not paying their fees, either temporarily or, depending on the length of the lockdown, permanently.

On the whole, these fears were unfounded.

Long-standing club members proved to be very loyal and paid up regardless.

Many clubs were inventive and allowed members to delay payment until lockdown was lifted, while others offered refunds for the lockdown months, if requested.

As a result, for the majority the financial impacts were limited.

This was not the case, though, for the ‘pay and play’ centres. While such centres do have some membership schemes, they are significantly more reliant on people just turning up and playing, in organised groups or as individuals.

During the initial lockdown, some clubs went to great lengths to keep in contact with their members.

Regular newsletters, with contributions from members, quizzes and the use of Facebook groups were just some of the methods used.

Eventually, an online petition and significant lobbying from the LTA led to the realisation that tennis was in fact a sport ready made for social distancing.

Common sense measures, such as the use of sanitizers at court gates and no handshakes during or after, were introduced and play resumed by late May, initially on a one-to-one basis, but eventually as doubles.

With schools closed and many people still being furloughed from their normal employment, almost every club found that participation surged – for the first time in many years.

But this in itself caused problems for some. Pre-booking of courts was a condition of the restart, and some clubs had to rapidly introduce online systems.

Others found that the influx of members from the still closed indoor centres was more of a hindrance than a blessing, as long-established members, used to turning up at the same time every week, found they were unable to play at their regular times as the slot had been booked by newcomers.

And with coaches from the indoor centres unable to ply their trade, some of them simply went to the outdoor club their pupils had joined and coached them there - ignoring club rules forbidding outside coaching!

The watchword for all clubs was flexibility.

With regulations changing all the time, committees had to think on their feet to accommodate the new rules.

Some introduced new short term memberships, many changed their usual procedures and ran ‘mix-in’ sessions during the week, rather than just at weekends – and even the structure of mix-ins had to change to ensure Government guidelines were met.

On the whole, the summer months saw a welcome increase in both participation and membership.

The resumption of general play was, however, too late to save the summer league season and the league committee abandoned the idea in favour of trying to salvage some sort of winter season.

It was clear from mid-summer that it would be impossible to run a full league season in the winter.

The Isle of Wight-based clubs said they would prefer to wait till the overall pandemic picture became clearer before they resumed league tennis. And with a good number of regular league players falling into the ‘veterans’ category, many teams decided they did not wish to compete until the pandemic had been bought under better control.

Nevertheless, some 60 teams did enter, and a reduced ‘restart’ league set up.

Barely a handful of matches had been played before lockdown II was introduced in early November and, despite intensive lobbying about the exercise benefits tennis can bring, and the inherent safety of the sport, tennis was once again closed down completely.

By now the best of the year’s weather had gone, so the impact on clubs was significantly less severe than at the initial shutdown.

The league committee merely suspended the winter league, with the hope that it could be completed once restrictions were eased. And eased they duly were – for a very short period. In December play was allowed to resume and the league restarted – for a few days - until the introduction of tiers, with half the clubs placed in tier 2 and half in tier 4.

This led to confusion, as many clubs in tier 2 had players residing in tier 4, and vice versa, making the selection of ‘legal’ teams very difficult.

The move to put everyone in tier 4 at least clarified the situation – no one was allowed to travel to a non-essential match and so the league was shut down again.

One on one tennis was still allowed, however, and many clubs found that members were clamouring to play and their court booking systems were under pressure again.

That is until the final crushing blow, when everything was shut down once again.

Few tennis players can understand why one is allowed to hit a ball with a friend on a piece of grass adjacent to a court, as their daily exercise, but they are forbidden to play on the empty court alongside.

Or how playing one-to-one tennis on a court is less safe than walking round a crowded Emsworth harbour, or Portsmouth’s Esplanade.

Our tennis clubs all seem to have survived, and some have even prospered in these difficult times, but all would like to return to some sort of normal soon!

BY ALAN BEST