Tennis Center league play set to resume in the fall

Certified racquet technician Jay Morgan is appreciative the Longboat Key Tennis Center is set to resume its league play in the fall.

“I’m usually the last to know,” Morgan said.

The U.S. Professional Tennis Association member began stringing tennis racquets in 1969 while he still lived in North Dakota. Morgan said he is happy to have work, and for the chance to share his dry humor with Tennis Center manager Kay Thayer and the facility’s members.

“Kay works me like a rented mule,” Morgan joked. 

Thayer, Morgan and the rest of the staff are preparing for a lot more traffic and business as league play and tournaments return in the fall at the Tennis Center for the first time since before the start of the COVID-19.

However, the Tennis Center has provided a haven for many people since it reopened in early May 2020 after closing for nearly two months.

“We're happy that things are moving forward because that's a big, big part of the Tennis Center is our league play here,” Thayer said. “I mean people love the league play. They love playing on teams and competing.”

Thayer said the camaraderie and social aspect of the Tennis Center are as important as the on-court play.

“People love watching their friends play,” Thayer said. “They come out and support them, so it kind of brings all the members together like a family.”

Morgan said it’s been nice to see familiar faces.

“A man told me, ‘the Tennis Center is the best bargain on Longboat Key,’” Morgan said. “I told him, ‘You’re right.’”

Data provided by the town of Longboat Key showed that Tennis Center membership was down from 265 members in fiscal year 2020 to 239 in the current fiscal year.

Town Manager Tom Harmer put together a presentation for the Longboat Key Town Commission that showed the Tennis Center has collected $455,210 as of March 31. The town had budgeted for $684,860 to be collected in the first six months of fiscal year 2021 to account for memberships, walk-on plays, script cards, lessons and merchandise sales.

“Having people come from other facilities, meaning either league play, tournament play, people coming to the island that are visiting on vacation, that group of people is really important for our business,” Thayer said.

Revenues in March 2021 are $22,000 lower compared to March 2020. To account for the lower revenues, the Tennis Center’s expenses are also down $33,800.

Member Fanny Younger captains a few different teams as part of the Tennis Center’s league play, and said she’s looking forward to the fall.

“Whenever there’s evidence of returning to some sort of normal life, that’s to be celebrated, “Younger said. "We’ve been very fortunate to have the Tennis Center available to us for so long now in spite of the pandemic, but returning to league play is definitely part of our normal life”
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The Tennis Center is planning to hold its men’s Senior Clay Court Tournament from Nov. 29 - Dec. 5.

“We’ll have people from all over the country coming to play in that,” Thayer said.

The Tennis Center is the main site for the tournament. Other courts are typically used throughout the island like at the Longboat Key Club and Cedars Tennis Resort.

Thayer said the Tennis Center is still working out an exact date for January 2022’s Observer Challenge.