Are you playing tennis during the pandemic?

Depending upon where you live, you may or may not still be under state, county, or city stay-at-home orders that restrict the types of activities and/or interactions you may have with non-household members during this COVID19 pandemic.

Photo credit: © F.J. & K.C. Maccioli

Here in California, lots and lots of public and private tennis facilities have opened. Some of them restrict play to singles only, while others have seemed to care little at all about any restrictions.

Many facilities require that players follow USTA and CDC guidelines such as maintaining social distancing, using a separate can of balls for each player so that players only put their hands on balls with their name on them, and other restrictions.

Operators of tennis facilities must incorporate certain procedures to ensure cleanliness and to minimize the interaction of players, personnel, and others to minimize the possibility of transmission of the virus.

Personally - I am not playing at all. I've taken a strict interpretation of California's stay-at-home order which restricts tennis to singles and only with household members. (Ace's wife doesn't play tennis.) I'm probably the only person in California that does this, but, it's still there in writing on California's COVID19 website.

Many of my friends have said they had permission from the County to do otherwise, but, really, no one  has been able to show me in writing where their local authority got authorization from the state to do so. 

Case in point - my former tennis club opened its doors to singles and doubles to anyone, telling its members it had the approval from local county authorities to do so. I subsequently made a formal public records request of those same authorities, asking for a copy of any such approval. The county responded to me IN WRITING (I have copies if you want to see them) and said that it NEVER gave my club such approval and specifically told them they had no legal authority to open. 

But, like I said, ol' Ace appears to be the only one here that cares about details. And as far as I can tell, the county did nothing to my former tennis club after I let them know what was going on. I can't link any infections to my former club, but, I can say the county I live in is one of the COVID19 hotspots in California right now.

So, be that as it may, what are you doing? Are you playing tennis again? What is your club or public tennis facility doing? Are people wearing masks when not playing? What social distancing practices are being enforced? Are USTA guidelines being followed? Or is it regular tennis as usual, done the same old way we've been doing it for years?

I'd like to hear from you. Let Ace know in the comments below!