Empty halls, an obscure list - the popular sports scene is seething
Next spring is sure to come, and at the moment that's the only thing that the popular tennis scene can hope for in the currently dark lockdown times.
by Claus Lippert
last edit: Feb 18, 2021, 12:54 pm
On the surface, the popular tennis soul is boiling above all in the tennis halls that have been closed since November last year. Why 20 square meters per person is enough in retail, but not more than 300 square meters per person on an indoor tennis court, remains just as inexplicable and incomprehensible as the fact that museums are open at the same time. But apart from this main topic, the tennis scene scrapes into another problem that is not yet completely foreseeable, especially because ministries and associations have set a fatal chain of errors in motion.
But first things first: First of all, the Austrian Tennis Association successfully advocated that Austria's best tennis players and those who want to become one could continue to train even during the pandemic. Good thing, it would be absolute madness if Dominic Thiem and Co. were no longer competitive after the crisis. The second largest sports association in the country seemed to be on the right track. The hopes of amateur athletes were as great as their enthusiasm for the sport itself. With a president at the top, who, as a member of the federal government and equipped with the necessary arguments in terms of distance and rules, would probably ensure the resumption of tennis after the end of the lockdown.
But the project ended with a belly mark. Instead, the tennis association performed a feat almost overnight that the most renowned tennis academies in Austria and the best tennis coaches in the country had not succeeded in over the past decades. Austria has become a major tennis power and a country with several hundred top players practically overnight.
No hall openings, 700 top players
Overzealous functionaries provided a list of "so-called" top players, apparently approved by the Ministry, and comprising several hundred names. A list, which of course defies description, with tennis players who have ITN values beyond 6.0, 7.0, even well above 8, and which looks like a slap in the face of any better hobby player. Apart from the lack of tact and solidarity in the pandemic, the “list of horrors” turns out to be a ticking time bomb when it comes to distorting competition.
When the lockdown ends, the constructed top players will have a training lead of around five months behind the real top players. If one could somehow have come to terms with this fact in the popular sport tennis scene, politics and associations delivered another real treat towards the end of 2020. In the dark of the hour, a very clever mind had the glorious idea of holding a tennis tournament in lockdown. And so the association that banned all ITN tournament organizers from holding tournaments may have applied for special permission from the responsible ministry.
The crucial two weeks - again
“The decisive two weeks are now really ahead of us, and it is now extremely necessary to restrict all social contacts”, with this statement the people of this country have been and will be for months in the countless government PK * s sonicated. It is curious that, of all people, the oh-so-concerned politicians approve events with hobby players disguised as top athletes in the order of 150 to 200 participants. No hobby player can understand that! If we now have a huge health crisis, then we all have to adhere to lockdown rules. Or if the corona crisis isn't that bad after all, let's unlock the halls and also organize tournaments for hobby players.
In any case, this “equal than equal” and the division of the tennis community has gone completely wrong. Apparently, no thought has been given to the consequences of these dispensable tournaments. It was clear that the association was not thinking of amateur athletes in this project in question, and that an indisputable change in performance levels in hobby sport would be accepted. But the distortion of competition will affect the extended tip. Players with national league A level who were not included in the ominous top player list will have to struggle not only with the training deficit but also with a lack of match practice at the beginning of the team championships in spring. In addition, there are ÖTV points for the ranking list for the “privileged” and the opportunity to improve for the upcoming team championships in the ITN. It will be difficult with the principle of equality!
The associations got lost
The final conclusion that remains is that the associations in the current Corona crisis - let's call it - unfortunately got lost. To look at the real top athletes and our internationally active young hopes, and to provide the necessary permits for training at the ministry, as well as to organize smaller - not publicly advertised - tournaments for the best, that is what the popular sports scene would have expected. Just as she expected to get the tennis halls open.
Instead, one “split” the hobby tennis scene, privileged a few hundred players beyond top player status and alienated more than 150,000 paying members. After all, they provide around a third of the budget, actually represent tennis itself, and in the current situation can graciously watch via live streams how hobby players with ITN 5 and ITN 6 disguised as top players "do gymnastics" through the hall . Dear friend! The carnival ended yesterday.
The tennis hall operators have already formed an association. But it also applies: Hobby and leisure players book tennis courts, buy indoor subscriptions, pay membership fees, buy rackets, balls and clothing, consume in the restaurants and canteens of tennis clubs, play tournaments and championships, take coaching lessons and are simply the mainstay of tennis in this country. You have earned more than a spectator role. And again as a reminder in the decision-makers' logbook: Distance rules are easier to comply with on the tennis court than anywhere else, we implemented hygiene concepts from May to November last year without any problems. And you don't need a college degree to take a test.