Caledon tennis courts won’t be opening any time soon following CMO decision

May 28, 2020 · 0 Comments

Written By ROBERT BELARDI

The reopening of tennis courts in Caledon has been denied by Chief Medical Officer of the Region of Peel Dr. Lawrence Loh, president of the Caledon Tennis Club Terry Lawrence told The Citizen this past Tuesday.

Dr. Loh has advised the Town to prohibit reopening outdoor facilities. No further specifics have been identified beyond that description.

Recreation Supervisor at the Town of Caledon relayed this information to Lawrence, who has been working with the Town of Caledon over the past week trying to reopen his facility.

“It’s just frustrating because we got the courts all prepared and ready thinking, after we heard the announcement from Ford (premier Doug Ford), we’ve got to be getting close to it.”

Turns out that wasn’t the case. Lawrence says that courts in Orangeville, Brampton, Mono, New Brunswick, Vancouver, Alberta and even in Toronto have been given permission to reopen their courts.

Although Mississauga has elected to prohibit the opening of tennis courts as well, Lawrence says that people in Caledon can find tennis courts elsewhere within a 20-minute drive.

“I can drive 20-minutes to Brampton and play tennis, I can drive 10-minutes to Orangeville and play tennis, but I can’t play at my own court that is five minutes from my house,” Lawrence proclaimed.

He says, his next step is to advise members of his tennis club of the recent news and where they can access other clubs in the area.

His club is currently losing revenue. Insurance bills still need to be paid and registrations need to open. He has advised the Town of these issues as well and the possibility of many of his former members seeking memberships for this summer elsewhere. Lawrence must also find somewhere else to play the sport.

The Town of Caledon has effectively shut down the majority of its services until July 2. But, Lawrence doesn’t expect this particular date to be the magic number. Anything can happen.

If his court has the ability to open on July 2, members will be discounted 20 per cent for a membership.

Tennis Canada has put forward guideline recommendations for people planning to return to the sport. One of which, Lawrence says is to refrain from grabbing your opponent’s tennis ball when setting up to serve. Tennis Canada suggests to bring your own tennis balls to the courts and your own hand sanitizer while cleaning your equipment before play.

The matches will predominantly consist of singles play.

Some courts, such as the Aurora Community Tennis Club (ACTC) have allowed doubles play only if the partners live in the same household.

“We have social distancing in tennis and it’s probably one of the few sports, like golf, where you can,” Lawrence said.

Within the Town of Caledon, golf courses have reopened with restrictions and rules of their own.

Lawrence wants to know what the difference is between tennis and golf.

“If golf is fine, I can’t see why tennis is not.”