Mansfield Lawn Tennis Club confident of a bright future

Tennis was one of the first sports to be allowed to resume following the easing of restrictions.

But the sport has missed out on it's usual summer shop window to attract potential new players following the cancellation of Wimbledon.

Helen Riby, membership secretary at the Pheasant Hill club, said membership interest had still been high despite the uncertain situation.

“We have had a decent number of new people find out about us and we have got the core members who are sticking with us - it is their sport and they will always carry on playing,” she said.

“In many ways we are ticking the club over. We are managing to keep going and I think we will be fine.

“We have enough interest to keep going and we have a bit in the bank, which we might have to dip into.

“We have had some government money through grants to help us keep going through this crisis.

“It is hard to know if we will suffer an impact from no interest from Wimbledon. The LTA are carrying out a publicity campaign to promote the sport right now.

“We should have had an open day in July, but that is not going to happen now. We are hoping we will still get people coming up and enquiring about joining us.

“We work with an active coaching company who have been doing a lot in local schools. The coaching sessions they are doing right now are proving to be popular.”

The historic club, which has five hard courts and four grass courts, also recently decided to slash membership fees in half as a thankyou to existing club members.

And it is a move which Helen believes can only have a positive impact on the club.

“To compensate existing members who have missed on great tennis weather, we have cut membership rates in half for this season, which means you can play as much as you want until the end of April,” she explained.

“We did say people could continue to pay the full price if they wished and a lot have done that to keep supporting us.

“We have had quite a few new people join up, some might only join for this year because they can’t play football and other sports.

“But if you have half an interest in tennis then the rates are ridiculously low this year. A parent can go and have a knock-up with their child, if they have a junior membership, for free until 6pm every day.

“If you have got a 10 year old the fee is £22 for the year - where else can you go and get exercise for that price through the year?.”

For more information on the club, and their membership rates, click here.