Katie Boulter invites Age UK Sutton for tea and tennis

The session delivered aspects of sensory tennis, including the use of scarves to get people’s hand-eye coordination going, before building up to rallying with orange balls, which bounce less than a normal tennis ball, making it easier to play. Katie played with different members of the group in rallies, including Jan and Maria, two women who used to play tennis when they were younger and have rekindled their passion for the sport through the sessions.

“I love the exercise,” said Maria, “and I’ve made friends, as we have coffee then we go out on the court - I look forward to it every week.” Maria also explained why it was extra special to have a hit with Katie at the National Tennis Centre. “My first day was when Katie was there,” said Maria, talking about her first session at Age UK Sutton. “She had lunch with us and she’s such a lovely person.”

After the session on court, the group sat down for tea and sandwiches with Katie, something which is a key aspect of their regular sessions back at Sutton. "It’s very social,” says Jan, “we have a lovely group where we all meet up and have a coffee and talk about our week. It makes it feel like a club, and at our age it’s amazing to find something like this.”

Another group regular who knows how far the impact of the sessions goes is Derek. Living on his own with mobility issues, Derek is adamant that the Age UK Sutton group and the community it has created among its members has been transformative for him.

"I go every week, rain or shine, I look forward to seeing those people every week. For that two and a half hours, we don’t feel that we’re disabled or unable to do things. My mental health has gone up, my mobility has gone up - two or three years ago, I never envisaged that I’d be able to walk properly – it's been really good for me.”

The group now regularly goes for outings together, whether it be for coffee at the local garden centre, or a daytrip to Bognor Regis for sea air and fish and chips.

When it was time for the group to head home, they were all presented with gifts from Katie - a towel from this year’s HSBC Championships, a t-shirt from the LTA Tennis Foundation, and a card signed by Katie.

After the session, Katie spoke of how happy she was at having been able to invite the group to Roehampton, saying, “It’s been so great to invite Age UK Sutton down to where I train and spend a bit of time with everyone. I’m very close to my grandparents, so to give some time to Age UK is really important and to see how much of an impact it has for them just to go out and play tennis and be able to spend time with other people, it makes such a big difference.”

Helena Dean, Activities Coordinator at Age UK Sutton, spoke of just how much of an impact she’s seen on those who’ve taken part in the sessions, “It's not just the playing of the game, it's the social side of it as well. Every week, we have an hour of walking tennis, but then we do a social afterwards and everybody stays and has lunch, and it's a real community now. They’ve got additional mobility, but also now the confidence to do other things, it’s a snowball effect.”