The opening shots in this year’s Tennis Championships at East Gloucestershire Club will be played next month and will herald the start of almost three months of competition at the Cheltenham club.

The tournament gets under way on Monday 19th June - a week before the start of Wimbledon - and will finish with a weekend spectacular of finals on the 9th and 10th September.

This will be the third time that the club’s head of tennis Steve Worsley has organised the event since he returned to the Cheltenham club and he said: “The tournament is going from strength to strength.”

Much of the reason for that is down to Worsley’s hard work and determination to make it a showpiece event.

“I wanted the finals to be all on the same weekend,” he said. “It brings everyone at the club together - we play the finals, have a barbecue and a trophy presentation. It’s a really good weekend.”

Members may want to bring an extra hot dog to the trophy presentation, however, as it may go on for a long time.

“There are 33 different events,” said Worsley, “starting with the juniors through to the seniors and senior age groups, as well as the handicap tournaments and a parent and child tournament. We want it to be fun.”

So, what drove 37-year-old Worsley, who lives in Prestbury, to radically change the format of the tournament?

“I’m a traditionalist,” he said. “I’m from Devon and I grew up playing tennis at Avonwick, which is a little grasscourt club.

“All the championship finals were played on the same day and it was a celebration of the club and tennis in general, and I thought that was something that would work here.”

The club holds an open tennis tournament at Easter but the summer event is open only to club members.

Nevertheless, Worsley is hoping that he may attract more than 300 entries with the closing date not until three days before the competition starts.

Worsley is not yet sure whether he will be among the entries. “I have played previously,” he said. “ I got to the doubles final a couple of years ago but that’s not what it’s all about for me.

“I just want the tournament to continue being successful. It is a very busy time of year so I’m not sure if I’ll play or not.”

As you would expect, Worsley was a good player as a youngster playing at county and regional level.

“I played to a decent level but I was never good enough to make a career out of playing,” he said. “That’s why I turned to coaching.”

That was what first brought him to the area because he studied sports science at the University of Gloucestershire.

He graduated in 2001 and after his initial spell at East Glos he worked for six years for the Lawn Tennis Association and for a number of commercial clubs before returning ‘home’.

“I love tennis,” he said. “I love coaching and I love living in Prestbury.”

Worsley’s enthusiasm for the sport is readily apparent and life will very soon get even better for him because his wife Suzie is due to give birth to their first child on Saturday. Happy days indeed.