Tennis Wales 'devastated' by Welsh government decision to delay resumption

Tennis Wales is "devastated" that the sport cannot restart under the Welsh government's latest coronavirus rules.

People in England have been allowed to play tennis outdoors since 13 May, while in Scotland it has been allowed on a restricted basis since Friday.

The Welsh government has decided, on the public health advice given in Wales, that tennis cannot yet resume.

"Wales is the only part of Western Europe you can't play," Tennis Wales chief executive Simon Johnson said.

"It's been shown in Germany, France and Spain, with varying different political strategies, that tennis is a great form of exercise that can be played with social distancing."

More than 2000 people have so far signed a petition, external calling for outdoor tennis to be allowed to restart in Wales.

The former Welsh Conservative leader, Andrew RT Davies - who is the MS for South Wales Central - said on social media, external "let people in Wales play" tennis, along with activities such as bowls and cricket nets.

Tennis Wales and the Lawn Tennis Association have been liaising closely with the Welsh government throughout the duration of the lockdown about the safe return of tennis.

"We've spent the last three or four weeks working on detailed guidance to show how we can adapt our sport, how it can be played outdoors where we know the virus transmission is much lower," Johnson told BBC Sport Wales.

"We were pretty devastated in terms of the announcement which effectively means that hasn't been taken on board.

"We've got local communities with 1200 tennis courts across Wales, which people can walk and cycle to within the five miles guidance issued by the government.

"We feel very strongly - in the same way golf has been able to return to play - with strict social distancing measures in place, that tennis was in a real strong place to do that.

"Behind the scenes we've done all the work with the LTA to develop a draft guidance based on Welsh legislations to make it crystal clear that there was no public health threat here, and we had a funded plan behind the scenes to roll out."

The Welsh government will review the lockdown measures again on 18 June and Tennis Wales hopes facilities and courts will be allowed to open sooner rather than later.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: "We are continuing our discussion with Tennis Wales with regards to the safe return of tennis."

Johnson says that as soon as the green light is given, courts will be ready to open immediately.

Speaking on Monday, First Minister Mark Drakeford said: "Over the weekend there have been many different sports and people who play them asking why can't we go back gliding... jet skiing, bowling why can't we go back playing tennis?

"Each one of them is able to make a case by itself that opening up tennis for example would only represent a fractional additional risk of coronavirus spreading.

"What you have to do from a government point of view is think of all of those little incremental additional risks and add them up.

"By the time you've added them all up it isn't just a small additional risk, you've got a significant additional risk.

"Other easements will have to wait for the next three weeks and to see what happens and that will include people who make a good case on their own terms as to why they should be an exception.

"By the time you've added all these exceptions up the risk is considerably bigger than it would be otherwise and we can't afford to take that risk in Wales."