How the Tennis Court Came Back to Life

Once upon a time, in a small town in the valley, there was an abandoned tennis court. Its clay surface had once been a lovely bright orange colour, but it wasn’t bright or orange any more. It was part of a recreation ground in the middle of a street of new family houses, but none of the local children played tennis. Isn’t that a shame?

Have you ever played tennis, children? All you need to play are two rackets and a ball. You can play practically anywhere: on the grass, on quiet streets where there’s no traffic, or on a proper tennis court – which could have a hard surface or a soft clay surface like this one did.

One day, a little girl called Annette moved into a lovely blue-fronted house on the street, close to the tennis court. She looked out of the window of her new bedroom, and asked her mother:

“Mummy, why is the playing field so messy?” She was right. It was overgrown with weeds and still covered in dead leaves from the autumn. And the tennis court was covered in moss and sticks.

Her mother didn’t know why no-one was looking after it. But she explained to Annette that the part with a fence around it was a tennis court.

The next week, Annette and her mother were shopping in town, buying some things for their new house, when they passed by a sports shop. There were bicycles, scooters, balls and roller skates in the window. And behind them, there were also two racquets hanging up, and a tube of foam tennis balls.

“Oh, look, Annette!” exclaimed her mum excitedly.

“What is it?” asked Annette, stopping and peering into the shop window.

“There are two tennis racquets and…