Wimbledon tennis fever hits Bristol
As their idols battle it out on the grass in SW19 for a fortnight, tennis clubs, sports centres and local authority courts are graced by a new army of players turned on to the game by the tournament.
Some are only playing for fun but for those youngsters aiming to take up the sport seriously, there are big decisions to be made.
Parents hoping their son or daughter can mirror the success of Andy Murray or Laura Robson must choose whether their children should join a club, pay for one-on-one tuition, group coaching or a combination of the three.
There are courts run by local authorities, such as Bristol City Council, which operates 29 courts on seven different sites.
There are also privately run indoor and outdoor courts which are open to club members, with a variety of different surfaces.
While annual club membership fees are reasonable, costs of coaching, travelling to tournaments and equipment can rack up and take the sport out of reach.
But Julie Jones, tennis development manager for the Avon and Wiltshire branches of the Lawn Tennis Association, believes tennis is not an elitist sport but one which is accessible to young people.
The former tennis coach, who is based at Coombe Dingle Sports Complex, is tasked with promoting tennis clubs in the area and getting more people playing.
She said: "Tennis has a reputation of being a middle-class sport but membership to outdoor clubs works out at £2.50 a week for an adult and 50p a week for a child and for that members can play every day if they want to.
"Lots of the coaching programmes are affordable and coaching groups, or squads, are about £3 an hour.
"It's comparable to other sports and to things like going to the cinema so you don't have to have lots of money to play."
More than 300 young people are coached at the Coombe Dingle Sports Complex while Clifton Lawn Tennis Club has 90 juniors among its membership of 535.
There are almost 60 clubs in the Avon area, including the David Lloyd clubs in Westbury-on-Trym and Long Ashton.
The very best young players in the region are coached at Bath University, which is classed as a 'high performance centre'.
Ms Jones says the coaching system has proved fruitful for three players from the Avon area; Katie Swan, 10, Maria Budin, nine, and Claudia Hallsworth, nine, who the LTA are 'keeping a close eye on' because they are showing outstanding potential.
Their flair for the sport was spotted by the association's talent performance co-ordinator, whose job it is to identify top players at local clubs and help them progress.
Clubs also work with schools, providing free coaching sessions, to encourage youngsters to take up the sport.
Ms Jones, who was in the crowd at Wimbledon for Murray's third round victory over Stanislas Wawrinka, said: "We encourage the children to enter tournaments, whatever their age and ability and there are an absolutely massive range of competitions, whatever the standard.
"Tennis is great game to play, whether you are eight or 80.
"It's a great family game and is a great sport to get into for health, social, competition or performance reasons.
"You can play with the whole family and it's very affordable."
Ms Jones said that while tennis becomes the focus of huge attention for the Wimbledon fortnight every year, it is a sport which can be played all year round.
She said: "The profile is obviously higher at this time of year and the tennis coaches and clubs can capitalise on that.
"But these days there are floodlights, indoor courts, and coaches are promoting tennis for 52 weeks a year, so it's not just about Wimbledon."
Retired journalist John Thompson, and his wife Jackie, have watched their 21-year-old daughter Jemma rise through the ranks at Nailsea Lawn Tennis Club.
Mr Thompson said: "She started when she was 11 or 12 at Nailsea, where my wife was a member. It's a lovely sport and there's nothing better than watching your daughter play in tournaments.
"You get to travel all over the country and make lots of friends. It's like a travelling circus for the parents."
Mr Thompson said his daughter was assessed by a coach at a David Lloyd centre and given a rating.
She was then paired against players of a similar ability in matches and played in tournaments across the south of England and Wales. .
Mr Thompson said: "My daughter was told to enjoy her tennis and we told her that if she won it was a bonus."
Former international tennis player Lindsay Joslin, who lives in Long Ashton, used to play with Andy Murray's mum Judy.
She was watching in the player's private box for his third round match at Wimbledon on Monday.
Now a PE teacher, the former Scotland international says youngsters need to join clubs to learn the game because there isn't enough time for them to pick up all the skills in school.
She said: "It's a difficult sport to teach in school because there isn't time or room for it.
"The obvious places to learn to play are through clubs and summer camps.
"The important thing with youngsters is not to get them into one sport but to give them a broad range of sports and see what they enjoy.
"If they are not enjoying it, they won't want to play it."
Helen Hewitt, spokeswoman for Bristol City Council, said demand for places on the authority's tennis courts had risen considerably since the start of Wimbledon.
She said: "There's been a three-fold increase in membership.
"At the St George Park courts, there were about 20 to 25 members and that has now shot up to more than 100.
"We are getting more and more inquiries from people thinking of joining.
"There's always a massive amount of interest in our courts around the Wimbledon fortnight."
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