The Kenmare Tennis Club with coach Hennie Kruger at the helm is all about promoting the basic concepts of tennis, now more than ever.

“It helps when the love for the game starts at a young age, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to try to spark the flame in adults’ hearts as well,” Hennie said.

We’re trying to bring back tennis, and to have more people playing it, even if it’s just for fun.”

To promote this, clubs around South Africa are implementing various tennis programmes such as Play+Stay and Tennis Xpress to make it easier for every type of player – starting at a complete novice level – just to get into the sport.

As part of their initiative to get more people interested in tennis, the Kenmare Tennis Club hosted a family tournament recently where their young players got to play with or face off against their own parents on the court.

“This tournament is to give my students the chance to get some experience,” Hennie explained.

“During practice we teach them how to play tennis but they don’t get many opportunities to actively play.” With the nationwide lockdown having stopped the sport dead in its tracks for a few months, leading to very few competitions being played, the young ones needed some kind of opportunity to strut their stuff and play in a tournament-like environment.

“If mom and dad play too, they feel more important, because they’re playing with the grownups,” Hennie concluded.

The tournament itself was fairly informal to keep the matches relaxed and emphasise the social aspect of tennis.