Anyone for tennis?

The investment has been made possible thanks to Sunderland City Council securing £310,000 funding from the UK Government and the LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association), which it is match funding with £71,000 from its own budget.

This follows a Let's Talk Tennis consultation last summer in which residents were asked what would encourage them to use the tennis courts in the city's parks more often.

The project is part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems.

Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls

 The work will see improvements to tennis courts in seven parks across the city at: 

• Barnes Park 
• Roker Park 
• Ryhope Park 
• Usworth Park 
• Barley Mow Park 
• Thompson Park 
• Hetton Park  

Following the funding decision, the City Council will also work with the LTA and partners to deliver a range of activity across the park sites. This will include weekly organised free park tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided, meaning that people will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition. 

All courts and sessions at all sites will be available to book online via the LTA website https://www.lta.org.uk/play/book-a-tennis-court/.

Works are anticipated to start in April 2023.

Councillor Linda Williams, Cabinet Member for Vibrant City at Sunderland City Council, said:

"We're delighted to have been able to secure this funding from the Lawn Tennis Association to put into revamping tennis courts at parks across the city.

"This is all about listening to residents and responding to their feedback by investing funding into tennis courts in parks across our city for the benefit of our communities. It's also about supporting a new generation of players to get into tennis and enjoy all the physical and mental health benefits that come from being physically active.

"And who knows, this kind of investment along with the city's fantastic sporting facilities and the opportunities to be active in our city could see the tennis stars of the future coming up through the ranks in Sunderland."

Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said:  

"We are delighted to be working with Sunderland City Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for anyone to pick up a racket and get active. This investment is part of the UK Government and LTA's Parks Tennis Project, and will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come.

"We will also be working closely with Sunderland City Council to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court, and open up our sport to many more people."