Author and tennis fan Peter Cheevers was on his daily walk when he realised the full affect coronavirus was having on his Sittingbourne club.

On a sunny Sunday, the courts would normally have been full of players lobbing shots at each other. But this weekend they were strangely quiet and empty.

So on his return home to Albany Road, the author of Coping With Family Stress penned a few memories of days gone by for his own Lockdown Diary.

He wrote: "It is a glorious Sunday morning and the sun, with not a cloud in sight to filter its revitalising beams, shines down on Sittingbourne or, as some term it, The Bourne.

"I am on my daily escape routine from the national lockdown which, for me, consists of a not-too-brisk walk.

"I pass by Sittingbourne Tennis Club and reflect that on such a beautiful day I would normally have been in the throes of a tennis match.

"It would often entail trying to retrieve the racquet thrown by a notoriously temperamental player who had hurled it into the branches of one of the trees which stand like sentries around the courts.

"Tennis, apart from its exercise benefits, is a well-documented means of getting rid of aggression.

"If not trying to retrieve the racquet, I would probably be listening to the wag protesting about a ball being called out, when it was clearly in, and taunting the line-caller with ‘Have you ever thought of going to Specsavers?’

"Or I would have been listening to another player who seems to have more bunny than Watership Down, famed for its talkative rabbits.

"I do miss all those characters as I pause and look at the pristine, green lawns of the club.

"On a morning such as this, I would normally hear the raucous shouts of football players as well.

"I suppress an inner sigh of despair at these science fiction times we are all enduring.

"I know it will pass eventually and sooner rather than later I will be climbing a tree again to retrieve that elusive tennis racquet."

Dr Cheevers was once drawn to face former top British tennis player Mark Cox at Wimbledon in the Great British Senior Championships but went down 6-0, 6-1 to the 76-year-old master.

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