We see it every December on the beaches of South Africa – family members or friends enjoying themselves with paddle rackets and a tennis ball, while trying to burn all the extra energy caused by their holiday diet.

But nowadays no one in Gauteng has to travel hundreds of kilometres to a coastal area somewhere in Natal or the Cape to play beach tennis. This former fun pastime is nowadays approached with seriousness as an official sport.

Beach tennis is popularly described as the T20 version of regular tennis.

The good news for tennis enthusiasts from Pretoria is that the Clubview Tennis Club in Centurion in collaboration with Tennis SA recently refurbished their facilities and built four flashy beach tennis courts on the club’s grounds to be able to expand this sport in all seriousness.

Plans are already in place to host a packed beach tennis program for 2022 on an almost weekly basis at Clubview Tennis Club.

Although beach tennis is a family sport that can be practiced by young and old, this year the focus will be on the youth to not only expand the sport, but also to establish organized competitions.

The proverbial dangling carrot in front of the donkey’s nose for young players is quite tempting, as Tennis SA is planning to select a national u.18 team, which will travel to Brazil in October this year to participate in the junior world championship in beach tennis.

Several national prize money beach tennis events as well as international tournaments are already planned by Tennis SA and they will all be hosted at Clubview Tennis Club on a monthly basis.

Any member of the public is also welcome to take part in social beach tennis events at the club on Tuesday evenings from March this year.

One of the great advantages of the game is that it is very cheap, because it is played barefoot on sand. Paddle rackets are also available for rent at the club for newcomers who want to take part in the social events.

During Rekord’s recent visit to the Clubview tennis club, South Africa’s top women beach tennis player, Kyla Yelverton, was also there to guide the younger players.

Yelverton previously excelled as a professional regular tennis player and she participated in several ITF and Futures tournaments. However, these days she is much more active on the beach tennis courts of the world.

“I was introduced to beach tennis during a Davis Cup tournament in Irene about five years ago. I immediately liked this game and after a few tournaments my partner, Helga Jeske, and I won the SA championship at the Badplaas holiday resort. After that we were involved in the world championship in Russia”, Yelverton explained.

In the meantime, she has participated in several international tournaments and progressed to one of the world’s top 50 players.

Unfortunately, as in almost all other sports, Covid has slowed down her progress, but Yelverton believes the best is yet to come. She is also currently based at Clubview Tennis Club and looks forward to the future of beach tennis, which is considered one of the fastest growing sports codes in the world.

For more details, interested parties can visit the Tennis SA website at www.tennissa.co.za or send inquiries by email to Iain Smith at ismith@tennissa.co.za .

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