Pay & Play Tennis - FAQS

Yes, you can hire a tennis racket for £5 per hour. Tennis rackets are available in our sports retail shops at Hyde Park, The Regent's Park, Chiswick and Lammas Park.

We also, have a selection of rackets (and balls) to purchase at competitive prices.

If you want to try a demo racket before making your purchase you can now do that for just £25 per racket with our exclusive Park Sports Demo Racket Service! This amount will be deducted from your bill if you decide to subsequently buy the racket from the venue on the day. We do not provide rackets for hire.

No. We are a public facility, and anyone can book a court.

The Park Sports Advantage Card is designed to reward regular players and provides cardholders with generous court booking discounts, 10 days advanced court booking rights, and many other discounts and benefits. The number of cardholders is likely to be limited at each sports venue, so don’t wait or you may miss out!

Yes. You just need to set up an online Account - its free, quick and easy.

No. All our sports venues and cafés are now ‘cashless’.

Standard advanced booking rights for tennis, padel and pickleball courts are 7 days. New courts are released every day at 7.00am.

In Central London, at The Royal Parks, we are no longer able to offer new customers the opportunity of purchasing these types of card. This is due to the very high demand for courts at these venues. We have now increased the standard booking window for tennis and padel from 3 days to 7 days.

Existing cardholders at these venues are currently able to renew their cards. 

You should call your local venue to ask, no more than one or two hours prior to the start of your booking.

Our standard T&C's state that those customers who book a court or pitch but don't turn up at the venue, or who fail to cancel a booking with more than 24 hours notice, will not be eligible for a credit or refund. Please refer to our Cancellations and Refund Policy for more details.

A court booking is deemed to have been played if more than 15 minutes has passed since the start time and no credit or refund will be offered. You can opt to continue to play at your own risk.

If the court is unplayable, or your session lasts for less than 15 minutes, we will issue you with a credit for your entire booking.

If the warning is for 'extreme' weather such as heavy snow, strong winds or abnormally high temperatures - at our senior management's sole discretion - we may decide to cancel your booking or choose to remain open to the public. We will try to inform you in good time before your booking starts.

We have a range of tennis rackets to choose from, at competitive prices. At Hyde Park and The Regent's Park we also stock padel rackets. Please contact the venue for more details.

Tennis as a sport is relatively safe. Of course, there is always a small risk of tripping over or being hit by a ball, but overall the risk of serious injury is minimal. If your child is attending a Park Sports activity, our coaches will make sure they are playing in a safe environment, with the right equipment and to a level that suits their physical ability.

Play with friends – playing in a group is always much more fun. Why not find a few school friends to play with or sign your child up for one of our LTA Youth tennis courses?

Mix it up – Book a game together. Keep kids entertained with a variety of games and activities using different skills and equipment. Let them explore, try out new things and use their imagination.

Set a challenge – kids love a bit of competition, so set them a challenge to do on their own, in a team with friends or sign them up for a LTA Junior Tennis Tournament.

Absolutely anyone. Tennis is played by hundreds of thousands of people around Britain of all ages, backgrounds and abilities and we want you to join in on the action.

From kids starting their tennis journey to disability tennis, and even those who just want a fun way to stay fit and healthy – tennis is a sport for all and offers a wide range of physical, mental and social benefits that anyone can enjoy. We want you to bring your own style and character to the court and Play Your Way.

Whites are for Wimbledon and while we all hope we can get there some day, we want you to bring your unique style to the court - the more colour the better!

Wearing the right shoes is really important though – having the wrong ones can hurt your feet and cause injury. Wear a comfortable pair of trainers - these will stop you from slipping and getting foot and ankle injuries.

When it comes to tennis kit, you can play in whatever you feel most comfortable in. Just remember you will be active – think t-shirts, shorts, tracksuit bottoms, sweatshirts.

For a beginner’s tennis racket, you don’t need to spend a lot of money – just look for a racket with a large head size. A larger racket head - between 95-110 square inches - will make it easier for you to hit the ball when you’re starting out.

You can also test different grip sizes to find a racket that’s right for you. Grip sizes range from one to five and to find your correct size follow this step. When you wrap your hand around the handle, there should be a one centimetre gap (or the width of your little finger) between your thumb and first finger.

When it comes to tennis balls, adults play with the yellow pressurised balls you may have seen at Wimbledon and other big tennis tournaments.

However, here's a Top Tip from the LTA. For any beginner, use different coloured tennis balls which are slower, softer and lighter and therefore easier to hit – so you can have longer rallies and learn the sport. They come in red, orange or green (think traffic lights but with red the easiest to hit) and even some of the top pros use them when working on something new or coming back from injury.

We offer competitive prices on an extensive range of the latest Tennis and Padel rackets, available at four Park Sports venues.

We understand that choosing the best racket for your game involves making individual and important choices, which is why we also offer a unique demo racket service so you can try before you buy.

You can purchase the latest rackets and balls at four of our Park Sports venues, Hyde Park, The Regent’s Park, Lammas Park and Chiswick.

You can drop your racket off at Park Sports Hyde Park or The Regent’s Park.

We offer a 4-day turnaround on restrings *Not including day of purchase* at Hyde Park and The Regent's Park. The restring will be free if your racket is not returned within this time frame.

All racket stringing is done on fully calibrated electronic machines, by a fully qualified International Tournament level professional stringer.

Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced player, we have a selection of strings to meet your preferences and style of play. Strings are available in a range of colours.

Yes, we can restring your racket for you. We charge just £25 per racket when using your own strings.

The rule of thumb is to restring as many times each year as you average playing in one week. We recommend that you restring every six months as a minimum, to prevent tension loss.

Visual indicators that you need to restring your racket include grooves in the intersections of your strings.

Each court booking is for a maximum of four players per court.

For your own personal safety, if at any time you feel uncomfortable or unhappy, trust your instincts and share your concerns. Each of our sporting venues operates according to the ‘Safeguarding, Diversity and Inclusion’ policies as set out by the Governing Bodies for each of the sports played.

More information on our Welfare Officer and Safeguarding policies can be found here.