LTA: Doubles & Competitions Allowed
The LTA has eased its Covid-19 restrictions to allow doubles play and limited competitions providing players follow existing social distancing and hygiene guidelines.
See detailed summary below, or you can read the full LTA Guidance For Players here.
TENNIS ACTIVITY [NEW]
Both singles play and doubles play are now permitted with people from outside of your household, as long as you remain two metres apart as far as possible, meaning that four people from different households can now play doubles.
Coached sessions should be limited to groups of no more than 6 people, including the coach(es).
MAINTAIN SOCIAL DISTANCING
Stay at least two metres away from other players (including during play, when taking breaks and before and after play).
Do not make physical contact with other players (such as shaking hands or high five).
Avoid chasing the ball down to another court if other players are using it.
[NEW] For doubles, consider agreeing in advance which player will take the shot if a ball travels to the centre of the court.
For coached sessions, pay careful attention to the instructions of the coach
HYGIENE [NEW]
Hand hygiene is imperative – use alcohol gel to clean your hands after touching a shared surface.
If you need to sneeze or cough, do so into a tissue or upper sleeve.
Avoid touching your face.
EQUIPMENT & FACILITIES [NEW] Players do not now need to use their own clearly marked tennis balls. However, if you choose to use shared balls then extra care must be taken to ensure you do not touch your face during play, and you should clean your hands before play and immediately after finishing (use alcohol gel if required).
Players should still avoid using their hands to pick up tennis balls from other courts where possible -use your racquet/foot to return them
Avoid using other equipment such as courtside benches, net handles or court sweepers where possible.
Be aware that onsite toilet facilities may not be open. Where they are open, players are advised to take particular care when using them and clean hands thoroughly after use.
COMPETITIONS [UPDATED]
Some formats of competition will be able to resume before others, and Local Tennis LeaguesLTA Youth Box Leaguesand internal singles and doubles box leagues/ladders can be played as long as they adhere to the guidelines in place.
The information here has cut out all the nonsense about padel tennis, which the LTA has strangely put front and centre of their Covid-19 messaging, a properly weird way of promoting their latest ‘thing’.
Nothing against Padel as such – I’ve sure its a great game – but so is fives, which has nearly 50 clubs (not courts) across the UK. There are only 33 padel courts in the UK, which is fewer than Hove has tennis courts.