One of the oldest tennis clubs in the country has undergone complete renovation after a £15,000 investment.

Last summer’s dusty old grass courts at Thames Ditton Lawn Club now have luscious green lawns.

The bulldozers moved in to the Weston Green Road Club when the last ball bounced at Vets’ final day in September, and work got under way skimming off the old grass and sowing fresh seeds.

The courts will be cared for over the next few months so the club’s 200 active members can enjoy an improved sporting experience next spring.

A club spokesman said: “It is important to the club to keep the facilities renewed and up-to-date and last year’s introduction of new floodlights on the hard courts have also been a phenomenal success.

“However, what many don’t realise is the club also has a fascinating history going back to the 19th century.”

The club was established in 1882, nine years after the official rules of lawn tennis were laid down.

It is the oldest lawn tennis club still on its original site and its grass courts are maintained by the same grounds man who looks after Queen’s Club.

Famous faces that have played there include men’s singles finals winner Carl Erhardt, who was also captain of Great Britain’s ice hockey team which in 1936 won Olympic gold, presented to him by Adolf Hitler in Berlin.

Hannah Colin, twice British champion, also started playing there as a junior in the 1990s.

The club had an all white dress code until 2001, the same year it saw the end of a 19-year battle to keep properties from being built on the grounds.