WILLIAMSBURG — If tennis becomes your sport of choice this summer, you don't have to worry about stopping your swings when the weather starts to cool — or even when it's snowy and dark by 5 p.m. each day.
McCarren Park's tennis courts will be protected by a warm, well-lit dome covering this winter starting in October, the park group Open Space Alliance announced Tuesday night.
"From mid-October to April the courts will be domed over with a bubble that will be lit and heated," said the group's executive director Ed Janoff. "It will be run by a private operator...We're not sure the details yet."
The courts, on Bedford Avenue and North 12th Street, are free of charge in the warm months but players will have to pay hourly or seasonal fees to use the dome (which will begin construction in a few weeks), a Parks Department spokeswoman said.
Hourly rates will run between $37.50 and $57.50 and seasonal rates will range from $975 and $1,495, depending on the times players wish to use the courts, the spokeswoman Meghan Lalor said. Senior citizens receive a $15 hourly discount and a 10-percent seasonal discount.