When it comes to tennis in the city of Dundee, it seems you can’t even give the game away for nothing.

And if the phrase “use it or lose it” means anything, then tennis players here should worry about seeing some city courts disappearing.

The sport is provided free on 24 courts in eight locations throughout Dundee, but if the Camperdown Park courts are anything to go by, it seems about as popular as a dose of the flu.

The three courts there are in pristine condition (unlike the overgrown jungle of a park surrounding them – with the council having allowed a once shining city jewel to become a tarnished wasteland).

Camperdown’s courts and their vivid blue all-weather surfaces are untroubled by rackets, balls, volleys, or cries of “out”.

Every time I’ve passed them this summer, including last Thursday afternoon, they’ve been completely empty.

‘An oasis of tranquility’

I run or cycle through the park a couple of times a week, and even during the recent school holidays, they were quieter than the dark side of the moon.

They’re an oasis of tranquillity, forlorn and abandoned amid the knee-high grass which surrounds........

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