Tennis SA CEO’s frustrations

Tennis South Africa CEO, Richard Glover has written an open letter highlighting his disappointment that new regulations have only allowed professional tennis to resume and not amateur and grassroots tennis.

His letter follows:

So CEO what have you been doing for the last six weeks? I thought you were fighting to get grassroots tennis back? Why can we run, walk and cycle on roads in close proximity to each other, but can’t play singles tennis on a tennis court that measures 23.77m from baseline to baseline? TSA seems to have made a strong proposal to national government that clearly demonstrates that, with the right protocols in place, tennis is a low risk activity – why is this not being considered?

Why, when so many other countries are opening up amateur or grassroots tennis, is South Africa not being allowed to do the same? These are just some of the questions I am currently being asked by members of our wider tennis community, after [the] media briefing by the Honourable Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture [Nathi Mthethwa].

This is what we currently know in terms of tennis:

The level three regulations and the associated directions from the Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture will allow:

• Tennis to host, behind closed doors, professional tennis events;
• Professional tennis players to return to training;
• Facilities for the training of professional tennis players to be allowed to reopen as long as they comply with all health protocols.

However the hosting of professional events and the return to training of professional tennis players is dependent on government approval. More specifically, TSA must ‘within 14 days after the official publication of the minister’s directions, inform the minister in writing as to the date of resumption and further provide an operational guideline, including a guarantee in the form of affidavits related to the testing of all officials’.

This means professional tennis players cannot return to training from 1 June and will have to wait a bit longer to get back on court. There remain some grey areas within the context of the resumption of non-contact sport that will hopefully be clarified in the written definitions document from the ministry – especially in reference to the word professional.

We wait to formally receive this document, but believe, based on [the] media briefing, that the definition of the word professional will cover both ATP, WTA and ITF tour players, as well as athletes preparing for international and national championships. This is a critical point because it would clearly broaden a return to training for more tennis players – including both junior and senior players training to play in TSA national tournaments.

Mass participation or amateur participation in tennis for recreational purposes is not currently allowed under the level three regulations. This means that unfortunately, clubs will not be able to open and these coaches will not be able to return to work on 1 June. However this may be subject to change in the coming days. So where to from now?

We fully respect that safeguarding public health must be our government’s number one priority, but the reality is that the sport of tennis is a low risk activity and all areas of our tennis are ready to return to training and playing:

TSA has put together a comprehensive risk mitigation strategy that incorporates global guidelines and international best practise. A comprehensive Covid-19 coach regulation and player contact tracing process is now in place. Finally, Covid-19 compliant club venues have been identified.

Saturday’s announcement signals that a window has been opened in our locked room and some light and fresh air is starting to return to tennis. It is not enough. But it is a start. In the coming days we will work to open more windows and ultimately that locked door.