The push to “reopen” the economy and to loosen social distancing practices imposed during the COVID-19 lock down, also opens the discussion on how to effectively and safely resume recreational tennis.
I have been subjected to a plethora of surveys from facilities, tennis organizations, tournament organizers, and my local leagues attempting to measure player sentiment toward restoration of play. I have yet to receive a survey that I felt was well constructed. Designing good surveys is hard.
I do not believe that there is a “one size fits all” solution set. This is largely because there are seemingly related, but separate stakeholder perspectives to consider in the discussion. A facility owner versus a facility operator versus a league coordinator versus a player are vastly different constituencies. There is also the undercurrent of the greater public good to consider.
My own personal stakeholder interests are in the resumption of tournament play and resumption of league play. However neither of those things can occur without a reopening of tennis facilities for general use, so the conversation necessarily has to start from that foundation.
It seems like forever ago, but back in March, I passed on recommendations on how play tennis safely during the COVID-19 social distancing guidelines in “Special Edition: COVID-19 and Recreational Tennis.” The USTA finally (and relatively recently) got around to posting their own recommendations on a “USTA COVID-19 Updates” web page which is prominently currently featured on their home page.
That USTA COVID-19 still focuses primarily on a summary of suspended and cancelled events at the national level. There are also a lot of statements that the health and safety of players is of paramount importance. What is relatively new is the inclusion of links to separate pages of “highly recommended” guidelines for both players and facilities.
The new guidelines for players are very closely aligned with my original “Special Edition: COVID-19 and Recreational Tennis” post on playing safely under COVID-19. One important divergence is in respect to doubles play where it is recommended that 6 feet of distance between partners when playing doubles be maintained at all times.
FINALLY, I have a legitimate excuse for my chronic tardiness to the net when playing doubles. I am “social distancing.”
I have discovered that I have a lot of threads to pull on this topic. It’s time to fully dive back into COVID-19 for a few days.
- USTA COVID-19 Updates, https://www.usta.com/en/home/usta-covid-19-updates.html, last viewed June 5, 2020.
