Sport & Fitness

Playing tennis is an ideal way to keep in shape in spring and summer. An hour of tennis burns about 400 calories. All the running around the court means that you get a vigorous cardiovascular workout, reaching and stretching for the ball improves your muscle tone, plus the on-court strategy is good for mental agility.

The problem is who to play with. I’ve been a very keen tennis player since the age of eight, steadily improving every year until my mid-twenties thanks to family membership at a local club. Since that ended my game has plateaued. I play the same people over and over. I also play less often. At 32 I’m little better than I was at 25, so last year I resolved to do something about it.
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The key to improving at tennis is twofold. The first is to play people of a similar or, ideally, better standard than you. The second is to play as many different types of players as you can – left-handers, heavy top-spinners, steady players who get everything in, big hitters, giant servers – the more variety you can put yourself up against the better equipped you’ll be as a player.

But not being a member of a club, how was I going to find these people? A website called London Tennis sounded a sensible place to start. Set up by south London tennis coach Paul Barton, it aims to bring players together from London and the Home Counties for friendly games and competitive matches. ‘After lessons I’d find people constantly asking me where they could find people to play with,’ says Barton. ‘In London there are a lot of people who play in parks and need a way of hooking up with other players. In the parks there’s no infrastructure such as tournaments or notice boards that you can use to meet other players.’

Since its launch five years ago, the site has been a huge success. It’s free to join and players are sorted by standard and area (north, east, west, south-west, south-east and north-west). Currently there are some 2,000 members of all abilities throughout London.

You grade yourself, choosing levels from beginner through intermediate to national or county level. Once signed up you can use the ‘find player’ option to view other players’ profiles (information also includes the times they can play, whether they prefer singles or doubles and how many games they’ve played) and challenge someone near you to a game. The ‘find court’ option is a brilliant and unique resource that lists every park and club in London that has tennis courts.

After months of winter inactivity, I needed to get my body ready to play. The key is taking things slowly. It is important to warm up the muscles before you even touch your racket by doing sidesteps, skipping or jogging around the court or kicking your heels behind you. Start playing in the service boxes with a shorter backswing, then initially hit the ball down the middle of the court during the warm-up knockabout so you’re not charging from side to side. Lightweight training to keep your arms strong, doing Pilates exercises, and cool-down stretches can help to avoid the two most common tennis injuries – tennis elbow and back problems.

My priority was to get involved in the London Tennis Leagues. Entry fee for these is £15 and they’re an excellent way of getting matchplay practice. There are up to nine players in each league, and one league per 120 week season. The spring league starts on April 22, so anyone interested should sign up now. Players organise and adjudicate their own matches and results are entered on the website, with three points for a win and one for an unfinished match.

Each area of London has up to three divisions. In last spring’s league I was put in division one for south-west London. Playing in a league is more exciting and competitive than just playing a game. I played Paul Barton himself and narrowly went down 7-5, 7-6 in a tight serve-dominated affair. I was quietly pleased. I also picked up a racquet against one opponent who claimed he hadn’t played for ten years because of a back problem (I won’t be fooled by that again) who then proceeded to win the first set 6-0 playing scorching tennis. This was annoying, but not half as much as the game in which I was on a winning streak (6-2, 5-3, 15-love up) until we got kicked off the court. Our time ran out. I had to put it down as a draw.

By the end of the season my game had improved and this year my little black book of tennis partners has expanded to nine or ten from a lonely one, which means I always have someone to call on for a regular game. Next stop, centre court.

London Tennis (www.londontennis.co.uk). The Lawn Tennis Association (020 7381 7000/www.lta.org.uk).