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The national governing body of tennis in Great Britain (LTA) has put together a £20 million support package, it was announced on Friday. With its support package, the LTA aims to help British players, coaches, officials and venues during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Wednesday, the British tennis suffered a major blow. The ATP and WTA extended the tennis season suspension until at least July 13. The worst fears became a reality when Wimbledon got cancelled for the first time since 1945.
The decision to extend the season suspension effectively meant the cancellation of a bunch of grass events staged by the LTA in Great Britain. "The first priority at this time is the health and wellbeing of everybody, and our thoughts are with anyone who has been affected by the coronavirus," LTA Chief Executive Scott Lloyd said in a released statement.
"Our sport is far from exempt from its impact, and this pandemic has the potential to put the continued future growth of tennis at significant risk. We know that many involved in tennis in Britain are concerned about their futures and are facing significant challenges, and so our primary objective in announcing these unprecedented measures is to ensure clubs and venues remain viable and coaches and officials are not lost to the sport.
“We hope that the combination of this new package and the continuation of our existing support will help ensure they are all able to operate post COVID-19. We want them all to play their part in delivering our collective vision of opening up tennis to many more people through activity like our LTA Youth programme to engage the next generation in tennis and our LTA Rally digital platform that will help people easily find and book tennis courts and activities”.