Beaverbrook in Surrey has become the first hotel in England to offer pickleball courts for their guests – and they invited GB tennis legend Tim Henman to try them out!
Henman, a six-time Major semi-finalist, joined none other than UK women’s number one pickleball player Thaddea Lock for a hit on the courts just south of Leatherhead.
Beaverbrook has partnered with Short Court, the upscale pickleball equipment apparel company, to provide all the equipment for the players at the hotel.
Henman, 49, admitted to being a pickleball sceptic before his appearance at Beaverbrook, but ended the session asking a representative from Pickleball England where the nearest court to his house in Oxfordshire would be.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Henman explained how his opinion had changed: “I love the different variations: you have some really soft points where you’re trying to dink it over the net, and then you have some really fast exchanges,
“Tennis is sometimes quite tricky, especially when you’re young, because the ball isn’t as easy to control. Whereas this is brilliant. I think it’s much easier to have enjoyment. I am absolutely convinced.”
Beaverbrook director Joel Cadbury said: “It’s just so convivial”, as he watched his wife and children playing in mixed-gender and age games across the new courts.
“[Pickleball] is the first game I can remember playing where gender is totally irrelevant”, Cadbury added.
The number of pickleball courts in the UK has more than doubled in a year, now reaching 400 as player numbers continue to grow.
Another former GB tennis number one, Andy Murray, has also involved himself with the sport, with pickleball courts added to his Cromlix hotel in Scotland a month prior to the opening of Beaverbrook’s courts.
