By STEFAN MODRICH, Staff Writer
HARLINGEN — The United States Tennis Association released a statement April 3 regarding the safety of playing the sport during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
“Based on the recommendations of the USTA COVID-19 Advisory Group, the USTA believes that it is in the best interest of society to take a collective pause from playing the sport we love,” the news release read.
While at present there have not been any studies done on the relationship between COVID-19 and tennis, medical experts believe that the virus could be transmitted through “common sharing and handling of tennis balls, gate handles, benches, net posts and even court surfaces.”
Don VanRamshorst, the head teaching pro at Harlingen Tennis Center, said the Harlingen Parks and Recreation Department ordered him to lock up the facility March 24.
In addition to high school tennis, USTA adult league play has been suspended for at least one month.
“I’ve had a lot of people calling and wondering when we’re going to reopen,” VanRamshorst said. “That’s going to be up to the city. But I think it’s going to be quite a ways away, because we’re not even close to this situation (being resolved) yet.”
VanRamshorst, who lives in McAllen, said he had prepared for the outbreak of the coronavirus as soon as he began to see it spreading from China to Asia and Europe.
He said some tennis players were continuing to play on courts at Victor Park and the Harlingen Country Club, as well as at junior high schools near him in McAllen. The Rancho Viejo Resort & Country Club remained open for tennis as of Wednesday.
Andy Carter, the director of tennis at the Harlingen Country Club, and Ray Jasso, tennis director at Rancho Viejo Country Club, could not be reached for comment.
The Brownsville Tennis Center has been shut down by decree of mayor Trey Mendez. The director of the facility, Seferino Couoh, could not be reached for comment.
VanRamshorst said he’s been keeping in contact with his students, and is advising them to find ways to hone their tennis skills and maintain a base level of conditioning.
Cancelling lessons or clinics hurts instructors like VanRamshorst and his assistant, Jacob. But pros at other tennis centers who have to rely on selling merchandise likely will bear the brunt of the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
Also, it could further delay the construction of a pro shop at the Harlingen Tennis Center, which has gone without one for the better part of a decade.
Bidding on the construction of the new pro shop was opened to developers in March, and it is expected to take about nine months to complete the job after bids are submitted and accepted.
In the interim, the USTA is encouraging tennis players to stay active at home and to showcase their creativity by coming up with their “tennis-at-home” games.
The Association of Tennis Professionals Tour has been using its Twitter account to show off the training routines of the masses, ranging from top pros to children hitting against makeshift nets in garages.
In one video submitted to the ATP, Switzerland’s Roger Federer practiced through-the-legs returns by himself against a dark green wall with a line acting as a net striped across it.
In another, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and his hitting partner exchanged behind-the-back volleys in his living room, using a stack of chairs as a net.
Djokovic, the world’s top-ranked player, donated 1 million euros through his foundation to fund the purchase of ventilators and medical equipment in his home country.