‘I've been going bananas without it’: tennis obsessives pick up their rackets again
17-May-2020 05:56:51 | Guardian
Courts across the country are re-opening, and for many it’s not a moment too soon
There are some sounds you don’t know you’re nostalgic for until you hear them. The thwack of a well hit tennis ball has been missing from this British spring. It is surprisingly cheering, on a bright Saturday morning, to hear it return. By nine o’clock yesterday, the first weekend of play since lockdown began two months ago, the 14 courts at Coolhurst Tennis Club in Crouch End in north London were full.
Among the early starters was David Berry, whose book A People’s History of Tennis is published this week. Berry talks of the relief of getting back, though a few things have changed. “What our bodies aren’t used to is playing singles,” he says – doubles is still not possible with social distancing. “My best friend Adam and I have played a mixed doubles every week for about the last 25 years. I had a Zoom conversation with two of the women we play with and they were going up the wall not being on court. It really affects people. It is the combination of that physical game you enjoy and then getting together for a drink and a gossip.”
Of all the games men and women play, tennis is the closest to solitary confinement
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