Children and families in Edinburgh are being invited to a free tennis open day at Murrayfield Lawn Tennis Club tomorrow as the sport’s popularity in Scotland continues to grow.

In partnership with Tennis Scotland, the Corstophine Road club is opening its courts for free sessions from 9.00am until 4.00pm on Saturday. Whether new to tennis or regular players, all are welcome to come along and play with rackets available if required. Sessions are scheduled as Juniors 9.00am-12noon, Families 12noon-2.00pm, Adults 2.00pm-4.00pm and refreshments will be available.

The event comes as almost 8,000 school children the length and breadth of Scotland will enjoy a free school tennis session and invitation to their local club open day in May and June, thanks to Tennis Scotland. With membership and participation in tennis continuing to rise in Scotland, the country’s governing body for the sport is embarking on another participation drive as the summer season approaches.

The Tennis Scotland-designed programme for clubs and parks across Scotland sees them opening their doors from this weekend to provide fun, friendly, welcoming open days for people from their local community who can try tennis out for free and find out about what their club has to offer. There are also special offers available on the day at many of the venues.

In addition to the wider campaign Tennis Scotland is also partnering with a number of venues across the country to support their drive to get more people playing tennis through the delivery of a school roadshow programme. The free school sessions got underway at Murrayfield Lawn Tennis Club in Edinburgh this week and further taster sessions will take place at schools in the Borders, North and South Lanarkshire, the Highlands, Moray, Dundee, Inverclyde, Glasgow, Dumfries & Galloway, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian in the weeks ahead.  

Blane Dodds, Tennis Scotland chief executive, said: “Tennis Scotland is thrilled to be able to work with schools, clubs and local authorities to deliver such a large-scale programme of free tennis tasters for schoolchildren across the country. For many, this will be their first experience of the sport so it’s important that the sessions are high energy and inspirational to encourage them and make that first experience as enjoyable as possible.

“This is one part of a nationwide push on participation which is helping grow tennis in Scotland, with membership in Scottish tennis clubs doubling in the last decade. We have real momentum now to ensure we create a lasting Murray legacy for which participation is such a key component.”

The Tennis Scotland programme links in with The Nature Valley Big Tennis Weekends (NVBTW) across the UK, which supports tennis venues across the country to provide club open days.

Doc McKelvey, Tennis Scotland head of development, added: “We are very proud to work with so many of our clubs in support of Nature Valley Big Tennis Weekend and open up so many courts for free play for the whole family on weekends across May and June. With no shortage of world-class Scottish role models in tennis and both the French Open then Wimbledon coming up, it’s the perfect time to motivate people of all ages to get involved and join the growth of tennis in Scotland.”

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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.