Wye Tennis Club have become the first LTA Club outside London to install a padel tennis court.

Padel tennis is predicted to be one of the fastest-growing sports in the UK over the next few years. It is played on a smaller court than tennis and is partly surrounded by a glass wall.

The scoring is the same as in tennis, but you serve underarm and can play the ball after it has rebounded from the wall - it’s a game for all abilities.

It will allow older players, who are considering tennis too difficult, to continue playing because the court is smaller and the movement is more forward and backwards.

Chairman Graham Sutherland said interest in playing at Wye had significantly increased with the news of the padel court being installed.

The opening, which will coincide with the club’s delayed 50th anniversary, will be on Friday, March 31 when it’s hoped president of the LTA, Sandi Procter, and the club’s patron, MP Damian Green, will be guests of honour.