Tennis Ireland have issued guidelines around players attaining elite status – this would allow them to train within the current lockdown restrictions.
Ulster Tennis may forward any requests from Ulster players for elite status to the Return to Sport team at Sport NI who then decide if the player should be granted that status. Sport NI have indicated that their intention would be to grant a small number of applications for those working towards a professional career in tennis.
Therefore please note the following in relation to applications for elite status:
- Elite if working towards a career in professional tennis or to playing Davis Cup/Billie-Jean King Cup
- Already committed to an ITF PRO (Senior) event in January or February 2021
- Players must travel to the tournament to sign in otherwise they lose elite status (even if you are in top 100 alternates)
Applications from Under 16s (on 1/1/21) and veterans cannot be supported.
Applications outside of the criteria could potentially undermine the elite status of existing players and prevent further applications being granted.
To gain elite status, a player may nominate hitters to train with, these cannot be Under 18 players unless they also have been granted elite status.
