Game, set and match to Covid-19 - but Eastbourne's beloved week of tennis will be back

But this year, the gorgeous green lawns are untouched, the stately stands are empty, and the seagulls have reclaimed the territory. Let’s just pause for a moment and recall – through gritted teeth – what we are missing this week…

The Eastbourne Nature Valley is possibly the most distinctive week of tennis in the world. Small, but perfectly put together, and the most prestigious women’s event to be staged in a smallish provincial town.

Eastbourne’s WTA Premier event is just two steps below Wimbledon, and a single step below Rome, Madrid and Dubai. The men’s ATP 250 tournament attracts both rising stars and seasoned pros, and recent years have seen appearances by Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Like all of the events, the Eastbourne tournament is a masterpiece of logistics and planning, 51 weeks of preparation for one week of action. But it has a style and character all its own.

Some of the other international venues – all of which have their merits of course – are huge, purpose-built and out of town. The Devonshire Park is tucked in the very heart of our town, nestled alongside theatres and art gallery, and little more than an over-hit forehand volley from the sea. It’s probably the only venue where a game can be interrupted by swooping seagulls.

Players, officials and spectators alike can stroll from hotel or railway station, come through the gates, and instantly find themselves part of the action and the atmosphere.

Our town being the “Village Eastbourne” that it is, you always bump into somebody you know. Office groups and lunch parties are enjoying a day out, and schoolteachers are obsessively counting heads. The local tennis clubs and charities have their stands, and everybody wears a smile.

In fairness, there are other venues which enjoy a similar jostling vitality. The outside courts at Wimbledon, for instance, always have that feel of eager enthusiasm: a people’s sport. But for closeness of action, the Devonshire Park has no equal. Players on the tour are all used to playing – especially in the early days of a tournament week – in front of sparse arenas with far more empty seats than spectators.

Not here: it’s a wry irony that we would seriously have struggled with social distancing, for in a normal year the outside courts at the Devonshire Park would be lined with eager tennis-watchers – close enough to offer generous support, encouragement and even a bottle of water to a weary player (no need, though: the best-in-class ball kids sort all that!).

It doesn’t happen at Flushing Meadow. Last year I found myself standing next to Simona Halep’s mum as her daughter – who within another fortnight would claim the Wimbledon 2019 singles title – powered through an early round on Court Three. My Romanian isn’t exactly fluent, but tennis is an international language, and her proud parental joy was infectious.

And in the cool of an Eastbourne evening I sat with Angelique Kerber in the players’ garden – strictly by invitation, for we journos know our place – listening to the legendary German lady, just after her semi-final victory over Halep. “You know, we players go from one airport to another, and one hotel to the next hotel, and yes, we can get weary. But we come to Eastbourne and we never feel weary. Eastbourne just restores us.” Thank you, Angie. We’ll take that.

Meanwhile, in 2020, the grass is shimmering and untouched, the sun blazes with real ferocity, even the gulls only flap lazily, and there is a strange serenity about the Devonshire Park. Wait on, everyone, and listen: can you hear the faintest thwock of racquet on ball, the ripple of warm applause, and the sonorous call of Kader Nouni, the world’s finest umpire: “Game and first set to Konta….”

Yes - Nature Valley 2021 will be here before we know it!