Local park tennis courts in Moray set for renovation

The project is part of a nationwide investment by the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, delivered by the LTA, to refurbish public tennis courts across Great Britain, and open up the sport to many more people. This investment will see thousands of existing park tennis courts in poor or unplayable condition brought back to life for the benefit of communities across the country through renovation works, and improved court accessibility with new gate-access technology and booking systems.

Park tennis courts are vital in providing opportunities for children and adults to get active, delivering significant physical and mental health and wellbeing benefits to participants. Accessible facilities in parks are particularly critical to opening up the sport to those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women and girls.

Alongside the investment, Moray Council and Elgin Tennis Club will also work with the LTA to deliver a range of activity across the park sites. This will include weekly organised free park tennis sessions for all ages, playing levels and experience where equipment is provided, meaning that people will not need someone to play with or their own racket. Local Tennis Leagues will also provide friendly, sociable, opportunities to get active through local competition. 

The park venue being renovated is Cooper Park and will be available to book online via the LTA website making it far easier to find and book a court or activity.  

Work on site started in July 2023 and is anticipated to be completed by September 2023.

Investment into parks is one way in which the LTA is working to open tennis up across Scotland, in partnership with Tennis Scotland. The LTA, Tennis Scotland and Sportscotland are also delivering the £15 million Transforming Scottish Indoor Tennis fund to provide more year-round community accessible tennis provision, including the development of new indoor facilities in Oriam and Moray which are currently underway.

Following the hosting of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals and Davis Cup Regional Finals in Glasgow last year, which were both attended by hundreds of school children, work is ongoing to significantly increase the number of young people who have the opportunity to pick up a racket at school, through the LTA Youth programme.

Sport & Culture Service Manager at Moray Council, Kim Slater, said: “We’re delighted that the LTA is investing in improving the tennis courts at Cooper Park in Elgin. Elgin Tennis Club currently have a lease of the tennis courts at Cooper Park and they are used extensively by the club all year round to enable all ages and abilities to learn and play the game of tennis. This investment is a welcome boost for the sport in Moray and the Council is appreciative of the funding from the LTA and the ongoing development work by Elgin Tennis Club at this facility.”

Julie Porter, Chief Operating Officer at the LTA, said: “We are delighted to be working with Moray Council to improve their park tennis facilities and provide more opportunities for anyone to pick up a racket and get active. This investment is part of the UK Government and LTA’s Parks Tennis Project and will mean that courts will be available for people to use for years to come. We will also be working closely with Moray Council to ensure that the local community have a range of accessible opportunities to get on court and open up our sport to many more people.”

For LTA media enquiries please contact: Media@lta.org.uk

The LTA is the National Governing Body of tennis for Great Britain. We are here to govern and grow tennis, from grassroots participation through to the professional game.  Our vision is “Tennis Opened Up” and we’re on a mission to grow tennis by making it relevant, accessible, welcoming and enjoyable.  We work with schools, with volunteers, with coaches and with venues across the whole country. We also represent the interests of over 1,000,000 Members, men and women, girls and boys, playing on more than 23,000 courts.   For further information about the LTA and tennis in Britain, visit www.lta.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @the_LTA.