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Harvard has begun charging students $20 an hour to reserve tennis courts at the Beren Tennis Center and the Murr Center — the University’s varsity tennis facilities and the main venues for recreational play on campus.

The courts had long been free for students to book, and the change took effect without a formal announcement. Many students said they learned of it only after arriving on campus and trying to book a court themselves.

Together, the two facilities hold 18 outdoor courts at Beren and six indoor courts at the Murr, according to the Harvard Athletics website.

Harvard Athletics spokesperson Imry Halevi said the new pricing was intended to encourage “more intentional use of the courts so that more members have a fair opportunity to play.”

“When court time is reserved but not used, it affects other members who might have wanted that slot,” Halevi said. “The new fee structure is designed to encourage members to book only the times they plan to use and to honor those bookings.”

Halevi added that the updated fees would also help Harvard maintain and improve its facilities, staff support, and member services, and that the decision was not made lightly.

Still, several students said they were left in the dark about the change and the reasoning behind it.

“It seems ridiculous that Harvard would charge their own students, who already pay a very large tuition to go here, to pay for a single hour of tennis at $20 a pop,” said Nicholas D. Best ’28, a club tennis member who learned about the fee over the summer.

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Jin Soo “Andrew” Byun, who earned his Ph.D. from Harvard last year and competes with a group of former Division I and Division III tennis players at Harvard, said he confirmed the fee only by calling the Murr Center himself after hearing about it secondhand.

“I think it would have been nice if there was some kind of communication about this,” Byun said. “I don’t think anyone really knew about this until I called Murr Center.”

Byun added that he expects the fee to fall hardest on undergraduates.

“I think this actually disadvantages the undergrads, who primarily are not making money, whereas, say, Ph.D. students may, even though it’s not a lot, get stipends,” Byun said.

Halevi declined to comment further on students’ criticisms of the change.

Leah L. Jin ’29, who runs the club tennis competitive team, said the fee compounds inflexibility already built into a sport that requires players to coordinate with a partner and reserve a court in advance.

“If you’re doing something else, like running, for example, you can just start it, but with this one, you have to set up a time with someone else and then book a court, and now it’s even harder to do that with the court fee,” Jin said.

She added that many members cannot make weekly practices at the scheduled times and rely on booking their own court time to hit — an option that may no longer be accessible, particularly for beginners.

Several undergraduates said they now expect to reserve Harvard courts less often and seek out public courts instead. But students said those options are scarce in Cambridge, pointing to three outdoor courts at Cambridge Ridge and Latin School and four at Harvard Business School.

“I had to go out of Harvard and into Boston, where it’s already difficult enough to find courts that are accessible through transit or walking,” Best said. “There’s not a whole lot of courts outside of Harvard that are free.”

“I can’t afford to pay $20 an hour to play tennis,” he added. “Sometimes I have to go to Brookline, which is difficult, or Tufts, which is very far away.”

Jonathan W. Yang ’28, co-captain of the club tennis travel team, first heard about the fee at the club fair, when students approached him with concerns about where they could play on campus.

The club team will keep its weekly practices free through an arrangement with Harvard Recreation staff, but Yang said he expects the change to reshape the club this year, drawing more interest than its court allotment can absorb.

“I feel like more people might want to join the club tennis team just because if they don’t want to pay money. It’s the only way they can play without having to pay $20 per hour,” Yang said.

“It’d be more beneficial, I think, overall for people to have access to these courts for free than to force everyone to join the club in order to play for free,” he added.

Best, whose interest in tennis grew at Harvard, said he is worried for students who may now see a higher barrier to entry.

“When I first came to Harvard, I didn’t really play tennis that much. I didn’t even know it was something I would enjoy that much. And now it’s one of the things I do during the week,” Best said.

“And so you’re taking away that opportunity for other freshmen who are coming here and trying to build community and friendships through shared activities. So it’s a real shame, and I really hope that they reverse the decision,” he added.

—Staff writer Julia A. Karabolli can be reached at [email protected].

—Staff writer Tanya J. Vidhun can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on X @tanyavidhun.