Army and RAF win Inter Service Tennis titles on famous grass courts at Wimbledon
Military tennis players were given the rare opportunity to play on the famous grass courts of the All-England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon for their annual Inter Services Tennis Championships.
Top seeded players from the British Army, Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force gathered at Wimbledon for the two-day event where titles for individual and overall were up for grabs.
Day one of the tournament saw the men's and ladies' singles take to the grass courts, which saw a clean sweep for the RAF.
Air Specialist Class 1 Eve Brady cruised to the ladies' singles title, winning both her matches in two straight sets against her Army and Navy opponents.
The Air Force's success continued in the men's singles where Flight Lieutenant James Marchant beat his Navy opponent in straight sets and his Army opponent which went to the third set.
On day two of the championships, doubles players were forced into the indoor courts due to the wet weather.
The Army came out as the dominant team of the championships, taking the ladies' and the men's titles respectively.
The RAF placed second in both championships and the Royal Navy in third.
Among the coaching staff for British Army Tennis at the championships was world-renowned WTA coach Nigel Sears, who is the father-in-law of tennis star Andy Murray.
Sears, who also briefly coached Emma Raducanu, came in to serve as coach for the Army team for the Inter Services, where his son was also playing.
Speaking to BFBS, he described his role as Army coach as an "encouragement" role.
He said: "It's really encouragement and, obviously, I try to help where I can in matches.
"There is on-court coaching so I am familiar with that from the [WTA] tour and I try my best to help where I can, but I don't want to overstep the mark."
When asked whether son-in-law Andy Murray could be convinced to join the Army, Sears jokingly replied: "I'd love to see him in a beret, I really would!"
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