New affordable tennis facilities for parks and communities

Budding tennis players - looking forward to a summer of tennis and inspired by the excitement of Wimbledon – are now able to use new, affordable, facilities across the country. British Tennis, supported by Sport England, has begun refurbishing and opening facilities in parks and communities – bringing tennis to thousands more people and helping them to stay involved. The work is part of British Tennis’ Places to Play programme.

New tennis facilities already opened include:

• Albert Road in Haringey, London – The courts have been upgraded with floodlighting and new mini tennis courts and a practice wall have been built. This means a significant increase in the amount of available court time for community use. At the opening, the site was awarded Beacon status from the Tennis Foundation in recognition of its high quality, affordable community tennis programmes.
• Clapham Common, London – Eight courts have been refurbished with modernised floodlighting. This will dramatically improve opportunities to play tennis at one of London’s most popular open air spaces.
• Gosling International High Performance Centre, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire – A new airhall was built over the existing courts – which were resurfaced to create an all year round facility. The centre has a strong emphasis on affordable access and developing strong working partnerships with local clubs and schools. Gosling is the base for a number of national and international standard players, including 12 AEGON FutureStars who are recognised as some of the best juniors in the country for their age group.
• Nuneaton Lawn Tennis Club, Warwickshire – The club’s three courts were re-surfaced and had floodlights installed. This will help to improve the club’s player base and boost the number of juniors playing and competing.

The British Tennis Places to Play programme has received substantial investment from Sport England. It is helping with their drive to increase opportunities for people to play tennis, compete and get access to coaching at all levels of the game in communities nationwide.

British Tennis’ investments are intended to deliver the maximum return for their sport - including more people playing tennis and more hours being spent on the court.

"It's vital that public funding for sport goes into facilities that meet the highest standards, are welcoming, and cater for everyone,” said Sport England’s Chair Richard Lewis. “That's how we’re going to get more people using them every day. These facilities offer brand new all weather courts that meet the demand of the modern game whilst offering the local community some of the very best sporting opportunities available.”

Opening up tennis facilities doesn’t just have the benefit of getting people playing more sport. It can also have a powerful impact on communities and bring people together.

Robby Sukhdeo, a tennis coach who has run the Albert Road facility for ten years, said: "We get people of all backgrounds from across Haringey using the courts, and the clubhouse is a real hub for the community. Four years ago we had 250 incidents of crime in the park, last year we had just one, so you can see the positive influence that sport in general and tennis in particular can have."