My brother and I were recently playing tennis on the public courts near Hopkinton Middle School. As we were playing, we quickly came across a problem — one that we could not remedy at that moment. Since there were no barriers of any sort between the courts, any tennis ball that was missed or hit improperly would roll onto adjacent courts. The problem had never been as accentuated as it had on that particular day, despite the fact that I had encountered this problem on various occasions; I counted 10 instances in which a ball from another court rolled onto my court.

Regardless of the skillset of a player, it is impossible to always hit a ball within the bounds of a court, especially during competitive play. Most players usually come to these courts during a specific, short period of time in the late afternoon and early evening, thus worsening this problem. The reasons that cause such busy periods are beyond our control and complex — chief among them is the weather and free time players have later in the day.

The wisest solution to this problem is to set up divider nets that will be able to prevent tennis balls from rolling onto other courts and other balls that are flying towards other courts. Virtually all tennis clubs use these nets because it allows players to not worry about disturbing or being disturbed by players on different courts. Based on my research a good quality tennis divider net can cost anywhere from $300-$500. Three of these nets will be required to create barriers between every court, therefore costing about $900-$1,500 in total. This may seem like a significant amount of money, however, these nets will last for 10 years on average. If we view the cost of these nets from that perspective, we will see that the yearly cost for the nets will range from $90-$150 — a more appropriate sum of money for a problem of this sort.

Though the town has faced some considerable financial problems during the pandemic, I believe that my proposal is affordable and worth the cost. It is worth noting that tennis divider nets are far from a necessity — they are a luxury — but they will make playing tennis easier and more fun, thereby encouraging more people to exercise. I plan to contact the Community Preservation Committee in order to go forward with the proposition.

— Husayn Ladha, Hopkinton

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