Since COVID took hold of the city, issuing tennis permits got complicated, so the city has made all courts now first come, first served, including ours at Washington Market Park. So that means the 7a tennis court sign up sheet is now eliminated, and players can just line up at the entrance to the court.

Tennis permits are not required for the 2020 season, and if you already purchased a permit, it will be valid through 2021. A few tennis courts in the city offer limited advance reservations, but everything else has gone FCFS. (I will note that Hudson River Park has always operated its three courts south of Houston this way.)

I solicited this review from a regular player: “My husband and I really like the first-come, first-served system and played almost every day for the first two weeks of August. The downside is that you might have to wait, but that’s not a big deal. The upside is that it’s very fair and transparent — if there are people on the court, they tell you when they will be done, and you can see whether anyone else is waiting ahead of you, so you know how long you have to wait. And best of all, there’s no scramble to get in line before 7a every morning to sign up. With the old system, by the time you’d get to the sign-up sheet, no matter how early, there were already names on there.”

Comment here if you are also a player and tell us how it is working out.