THREE weeks into its delayed season and the Sunraysia District Tennis Association (SDTA) 2020 competition has been cancelled.
Tough new restrictions introduced by the Victorian Government over the weekend means all community sport has been banned for the next six weeks.
The news comes as a bitter blow for the SDTA, which had seen a surge in player numbers recently.
SDTA president Bill Madafferi said everyone involved in the sport was feeling “flat”, but understood the reasons behind the lockdown.
“What can you do – really disappointing, but we always knew this might happen,” Madafferi said.
“Our priority when we decided to start the season was always about the safety of our players.
“We have been very transparent with everyone that if new restrictions were introduced then that could jeopardise the season.
“I suppose we just have to feel grateful we were able to get a couple of games in.”
Madafferi said with the SDTA season scheduled to finish in mid-September, the new COVID-19 restrictions would mean there was no chance of any further matches being played.
“That’s it for us. We were only ever going to play a 10-round season, so now we are out of action for the next six weeks – it’s all over for us,” said Madafferi
“We will just bunker down and do the right thing and hopefully we can start our summer competition on time.”
