Tennis courts across South Wales will again soon be playing host to a huge competition, thought to be the biggest of its kind in Britain.

The Courtstall South Wales Summer Doubles League is thought to be Britain’s biggest – with over 750 matches played during the ten-week competition, 900 players turning out for their clubs each week and an estimated 1200 players involved throughout the season.

David Lloyd Cardiff are defending their titles as champions in both the men’s and ladies’ premier divisions.

They won both leagues last year for the first time and will be striving to repeat their performances over the next few months. They will receive strong challenges from the ladies of Cardiff LTC, who had held the title for the last 20 years, Stow Park (Newport), Dinas Powys, Cwmbran and Neath/Glam.

In the men’s title race the challenge will come from Cardiff LTC, Caerphilly, Stow Park (Newport) and two teams from the Swansea club.

The leagues are sponsored by Courtstall Services Ltd, continuing their support of the last six years. The league is administered by Tennis Wales Ltd and organised by a team of eight volunteers from clubs across South Wales, who decide on match schedules, disputes, promotion/relegation and other issues arising during the season.

"A total of 84 men’s and 66 ladies teams have entered this year, representing 45 clubs spread between Chepstow and Aberystwyth," explained South Wales county secretary Mike Clarke.

"We believe this is the largest doubles league in Britain – and by any standards, it’s certainly a major sporting contest."

The 150 teams are divided into 25 divisions of six teams with each team playing the others in their division, home and away.

"Players range in age from about 12 to over 70," added Clarke. "This just proves the whole-of-life attraction of tennis as a competitive sport, bringing all ages together. "Matches can be played in evenings or at weekends and always finish with a match tea or supper, creating a friendly, jovial after-match atmosphere enjoyed by all participants."

All matches involve three pairs playing each of the opponent’s pairs in turn. The home teams do, however, have the choice of just playing the match over two rounds rather than three. The divisions in the Eastern section of the league have been re-formatted into a linear promotion and relegation structure while the Western clubs have a smaller parallel league structure to minimise travelling and time.

A new concept this year is the online recording of match results by team captains, which will give immediate divisional updates and analysis of results and player performances. This will not only reduce administrative time for the organisers but will allow all players and supporters to review the results whenever they like by accessing the Tennis Wales website www.tenniswales.org.uk

Information on all aspects of tennis in Wales is available from Tennis Wales at 029 20 463335 or www.tenniswales.org.uk