As one of the few sports which can be played almost entirely while adhering to social distancing guidelines, both the Goulburn Tennis Club and the Goulburn Railway Tennis Club closed for less than a month between March and April.

Since then, local coach David Ridland has noticed an influx of new players looking for a physical outlet.

"We're one of the lucky ones to still be able to go on," Ridland said.

"As soon as we opened the doors back up we had a heap of new members and families with their kids.

"It's a weird feeling being one of the only exercise activities you can do in town."

Though Ridland was financially impacted by the lockdown, he is aware that most other sporting clubs have suffered much more.

"It's not the same hit," he said.

"They were doing zero, they weren't doing anything whereas we could still do one-on-one sessions. We couldn't do groups, which is where the bulk of income comes through.

"We're a lot better off income-wise than everybody else, like the gyms and community sports."

The importance of sports such as tennis and golf, Ridland said, was underlined once he announced to his clients that he was open for business once again.

"I sent out messages to my clients once I was allowed to open again and had 30 messages back in the first half an hour," he said.

"People were past the stage of being worried, they were ready to get their kids back into exercise. I had an influx of adults as well because no gyms were open."

The only question mark remaining for the tennis clubs revolves around their annual tournaments.

Each November, the Goulburn Tennis Club hosts the AMT Goulburn Cup, which brings in crucial funds for the club with hundreds of players on the court over the course of one weekend.

Ridland said tournaments were not set to begin again until August at the earliest, which will not leave the club with much time to organise both players and sponsors.

"It's difficult to find sponsors," Ridland said.

"One of our major sponsors was Diggers by the Park, and they took a big hit with having to shut.

"We might have to look a bit harder to source some new sponsors, and if it's not as big then it doesn't really matter as long as we can make a decent tournament. It's great for the community to have it here."

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