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Critics were against the plan to erect bubble roofs over courts between 94th and 96th Streets because they said it would block park views. They were also against the noise and pollution from the generators that would have been used to light and heat the bubbles, as well as the cost to play on the courts.

The decision comes a month after a Manhattan community board voted down a city proposal to turn parkland over to a tennis operator year-round. The Sutton East Tennis Club wanted to expand what is currently an eight-month season in a bubble beneath the Queensboro Bridge.

"[I opposed it] in terms of sustainability, open space, preservation, taking public property for revenue generation. Like right now, in tough economic times, it's really important to be vigilant about how public space is used," said Community Board 7 member Mel Wymore.

Locals were also concerned the programs at the proposed tennis center would no longer be affordable.

"Now, a tennis permit for a season is $100. The way they struck this deal, it would be up to $100 an hour," said parks advocate Geoffrey Croft.

The city's parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said Community Board 8 on the Upper East Side liked the tennis bubbles. He also said the courts would have raised some city revenue, but it would not have been as much as $100 an hour.

"It's a shame, we lose a million dollars a year. Half a million dollars would have gone to the general fund to pay for cops and firefighters and sanitation workers and even for parks," said Benepe. "We may well come back with a better, more substantive proposal. If there are any losers, it's the people who want to play tennis."

Tennis fans told NY1 that the city needed a new proposal for the tennis courts.

"If there was a way to balance that out, keep affordable tennis for the people who live here, then tennis bubbles would have been a great thing. Have it year-round," said one New Yorker.

"To me, it's like living in Malibu, and I've lived in Malibu. And to take it away, and have this alien bubble.... [T]hat's really not the way I want to start my morning," said another.

Benepe said if a way can be found to supply electrical power without using generators, the idea of tennis bubbles in Central Park may bounce back.