TENNIS players are speaking out against their courts being taken over by a game few of them have even heard of.

Members of David Lloyd sports club, off Roding Lane, Chigwell, fear its indoor courts will be almost impossible to book if plans to replace two of them with space to play paddle tennis – a game adapted from the sport where players use paddles instead of rackets and softer balls.

Dilip Vadher, 56, of Manor Road, Chigwell, who has been a member of the club for 18 years, has gathered about 250 signatures on a petition against the plans.

He said: “We’re struggling at the moment to get a court when we want one and it will get worse.

“Paddle tennis is a silly little game and no-one even knows what it is.

“I’m paying £100 a month. It’s a substantial amount of money in anybody’s language and they think they can run rough-shod over everybody.”

Club member Ian McBain, 59, of Forest Road, Loughton, said: “As a tennis player, I’m not remotely interested in paddle tennis, because I know how to play tennis.

“I suppose it would be attractive to people who aren’t good tennis players because it’s a smaller court.”

Another member, Colin Rowe, 63, of York Hill, Loughton, said: “I joined David Lloyd because I wanted to be able to play tennis indoors when the weather is bad. You can play at other clubs for a fraction of the price.

“A lot of us have written emails (to the club’s head office). It’s a brick wall. We’ve had a letter from one of the board members, but it doesn’t actually explain why they’re doing it when no-one wants it.”

A spokeswoman for David Lloyd said the club was hoping to be one of the pioneers of paddle tennis in the UK.

She added: “Paddle tennis is quite new to the UK. Head office has done quite a bit of research into it and it’s huge in Spain.

“If it goes well, we’re taking it across all the clubs.”

She said it was hoped the new courts, which are part of a £325,000 refurbishment at the club, would create more space on the tennis courts, as some tennis players were expected to switch to the game.

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