HAVING only picked up a racket five years ago, Bradshaw’s Brad Gould could not believe it when he made it through to a national tennis tournament.

The 46-year-old joined David Lloyd Bolton team-mates Jamie Jackson, Lesley Jackson, and Marie Lowther bidding to be crowned national champions in the third annual Jaguar Championships.

More than 1,600 players from 417 teams entered the mixed-doubles event for adults in both improver and advanced categories.

Gould and his team-mates missed out on the top improver category prize, but that did not dent his pride at representing their club in the national finals at David Lloyd Royal Berkshire in front of special guest, former British number one Tim Henman.

“We didn’t expect to get through,” he said, “We did the competition in Bolton through David Lloyd.

"We won that then went to the finals in Trafford and got through that unexpectedly too.

“It feels great to be representing Bolton, there are a lot of good players there who tried to get through, so I'm very proud.

“I’ve been playing seriously for about five or six years, so to get to this level in that time I think is quite an achievement.

"I think I speak for the team when I say we’ve done quite well to get in this position in that space of time.

“It’s brought us all together, we all know each other a bit better through the last few months of qualifying.

“Tennis is just a great game you can play from a young age and if you continue to be fit and healthy you can play up until your eighties. I think it’s a super sport, at any level.”

Teams had to battle through club competitions and regional finals just to reach the national showcase.

n Tim Henman was speaking at The Jaguar Championships as part of Jaguar’s partnership with David Lloyd Clubs. Visit http://www.jaguar.co.uk/jaguar-range/f-pace/index.html to find out more about the F-PACE, the Official Car of The Championships, Wimbledon