Following the Prime Minister’s announcement on 4 January of new national lockdown restrictions to be introduced across England, the LTA can confirm that regrettably all indoor and outdoor tennis facilities will need to close. The LTA believes tennis is a naturally socially distanced sport that is safe to play and gives people of all ages the opportunity to exercise with friends or relatives. Tennis is important for people’s physical and mental health and we will continue to liaise with the Government to ask them to allow players back on court as soon as possible. We know that this is incredibly disappointing and frustrating news for all those players, coaches, venues and officials involved with the sport, as well as presenting further significant financial challenges. Further information on current financial support available from Government is available below, and the LTA will also continue to engage with Government to help ensure that the tennis community is supported through the coming weeks and months. The Government has confirmed that elite sport is able to continue in line with the strict protocols and measures that are in place for it. Organised outdoor sport for disabled people is also allowed to continue, and we will provide further detail here on this once we have information from Government. The Government has advised that this guidance should be followed immediately, and will be updating the law to reflect the new rules. Tennis as a socially distant sport As a naturally socially distant sport that involves participants stood a significant distance away from each other with a net in between, the LTA does not believe that playing tennis contributes to the spread of COVID-19 in any significant way, and so it can play a role in helping to safely maintain the health and wellbeing of the nation under coronavirus restrictions. We thank everyone from the tennis community who has made this case to their local MP in recent weeks and months. The LTA will continue to strongly make this case in our discussions with national Government, to ensure that tennis is able to resume as soon as possible, supporting coaches, venues and officials and helping more people enjoy the mental and physical health benefits of being active.