Felicity Thomas and her husband Gordon were making travel plans when The Local Answer called.

It’s something they’ve become well practised in over the past couple of decades as Felicity’s tennis career – rather like a good bottle of port – has got better and better with the passing of the years, winning age group tournaments all over the globe.

Their planned destination this time around was Paris, with 77-year-old Felicity taking part in a veterans’ tournament in February.

Paris is a lovely destination at any time of year of course – although especially at this time of year with Valentine’s Day just around the corner! – but it’s just one of a host of exotic locations that Felicity has visited in pursuit of her love of tennis.

She’s played in New Zealand, Italy and Florida to name just a few places and has no thought of giving up the globetrotting any time soon.

And yet in her formative years it was cricket and not tennis that caught her attention.

“I was living in Hove and I was a bit of a cricket all-rounder,” she said. “I bowled medium pace.

“I do remember taking part in a tennis tournament. It was in a park in Hove and I didn’t take it very seriously. I don’t remember how I got on.

“As a teenager I combined cricket with lacrosse, but lacrosse became my main sport from when I was 20 till about 30 wherever I was living – in Sussex, Kent, Warwickshire and Gloucestershire.

“Though I played tennis occasionally, I did not join a tennis club as such until about 1968 in Leamington Spa. Then I joined East Glos Club in Cheltenham a year later.

“That’s when I started playing tennis competitively and I enjoyed it.”

She married Gordon in 1964 – “We’ve done the 50,” she laughed – and Gordon’s job as a bank manager brought them to Cheltenham in the late 60s.

East Glos were just a big forehand drive from where they were living and she is still a member to this day.

And a very active member she’s been too with the club being the springboard for all the success she has enjoyed in recent years.

“I remember a few of us took up coaching almost for a laugh,” she said. “But then I got into it and I took it to the next stage.

“From there I was very lucky because I got into the county team and it all went from there really. That gave me the experience of playing against good players.

“My first opportunity to play county tennis was in 1974 when the county of Avon was created. All the existing Gloucestershire players came from the new Avon, so Gloucestershire had to start virtually from scratch.

“It was a tough baptism because we had to continue playing in Group Three – out of seven – with no-one who had ever played at county level. I was aged 33 at that time.”

That is quite an advanced age to be making your Gloucestershire debut, of course, so does Felicity regret not taking her tennis more seriously at a younger age?

“My father asked me that,” she said. “If I had, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it as much.”

As it was Felicity played for Gloucestershire for 20-odd years and came up against some decent players along the way.

“I remember playing Jo Durie,” she said. “She was playing for Avon and was only 14.”

So how did she get on?

“She beat me,” she chuckled, “she hit the ball far too hard.

“I also played Judy Murray. She was known as Judy Erskine then and was playing for North of Scotland.

“I don’t remember who won but she was very competitive!”

Although she enjoyed some success at county level it was once Felicity entered age group tournaments that her career really started to take off.

“It was when I started playing in the veterans’ tournaments for over-55s,” she said. “It’s much easier when you’re playing people who are the same age as you.

“I think I won my first vets’ tournament in Eastbourne. That meant a lot to me because I believed I could now do it.”

And she was right because over the years she has collected a stack of titles and is a multiple British age group champion at singles and doubles.

So what are her strengths as a tennis player?

“I’m not very tall but I’m quite fast,” she said. “I cover the court well for my age and I like to volley. I never give up!”

That never-say-die attitude has served her well on all surfaces and although she has had her best results on grass she admits that she really enjoys playing on clay.

“It’s more of a battle,” she said. “You’ve got to think about what your strategy is because the ball keeps coming back. It’s not like grass where you can hit more winners.”

Hitting winners has never been a problem for Felicity of course and like all competitors it’s something she really enjoys. She also really enjoys the fact that her two sons – Stephen and Simon – love tennis along with her four granddaughters.

Stephen is chairman of his local tennis club in New Zealand where he now lives while Simon runs Charlton Kings Tennis Place, a club based at Balcarras School.

Felicity’s husband Gordon – a member at East Glos – also plays social tennis so it’s clear that the sport plays a huge part in family life.

It doesn’t leave too much time for other pursuits, of course, but she enjoys cooking when she is home in Charlton Kings.

“I’m also very involved in the church and do a lot of charity work,” she said.

She’s clearly an ace on and off the tennis court!