Following the relaxing of some of the Lockdown rules, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is now allowing competitive tennis matches to take place, writes Stephen Morton.

To help support Darcie a junior member at the club, and to minimise the travel for other competitors across the region, Sidford Tennis Club were pleased to host an U-18s South West Girls Box League tournament.

Players came from near and far across the region with some travelling from Bournemouth and Plymouth to compete.

These players haven’t been able to compete in any LTA tournaments since the start of lockdown, so it was great to see them turn out and compete for the first time since March.

They really enjoyed getting back out on the court again to compete and a lovely hot and dry day made the conditions absolutely perfect.

The (socially distanced) parents also commented on how it nice it was to get the matches going again.

The standard of the tennis was very high from all competitors which meant that many of the matches went to a deciding set.

Phoebe, from Bournemouth, put in an excellent performance, coming out on top for the day and managing to win all three of the matches she contested.

Darcie did well by recording a win and gaining from this challenging match experience against other strong girls.