IN PICTURES: Local tennis clubs are rallying together to re-establish an age-old social tennis fraternity

Roughly 30 players of seven tennis clubs played at an Inter-Club Social Tennis Tournament under blue skies on 25 November.

Northern Suburbs Tennis Club in Parkwood played host to players of Bryanston Country Club, Bryanston Sports Club, Morningside Tennis Club, Rivonia Tennis Club, Pirates Tennis Club and German Country Club.

Tournament organiser, Dragos Dobrescu said these clubs had previously met almost monthly for social tournaments for many years, but recently this fell away.

This tournament was one of the first initiatives to relaunch a tradition all the clubs missed, which is why it had a good turnout.

“We play doubles for half an hour at a time; teams are random and we switch after every 30 minutes,” Dobrescu said.

This ensured that players of different clubs got to mingle as teammates and opponents throughout the morning.

Due to the social nature of the tournament, there were no official winners, and sets and games were not recorded.

When the time was up, players would finish the game and head to the clubhouse for a chat and a drink briefly before the next round.

“The idea is to get more people on courts, to keep them active. It is fun and social and improves physical fitness.”

Northern Suburbs chairperson, Keith Ryner said his club could not take sole credit for the relaunch as it required buy-in from all clubs involved.

“The turnout was good across the large number of clubs,” he said, adding that more events were certainly on the cards.