Yeah shhh makes a v good point there, watching the Brits at a futures/challenger feels like a much more fulfilling tennis experience as all the players and coaches are very approachable and you get to chat to them...I spoke to Natasha Khan, Nigel Sears and Rebecca Llewellyn at Sutton and all were really friendly.

The venues tend to be sports centres rather than clubs...a lot of them have tennis academies based there eg: Sutton and Nottingham (the futures and challenger venue is also the ATP venue). I think a lot of David Lloyd tennis centres are used, particularly in the British tour events.

Sutton is really good, there's a great viewing balcony, Wrexham challenger is by far the worst but the outdoor futures there in August is v good for spectating. All of the outdoor challenger and futures spectating facilities are really good, some of the indoor ones leave something to be desired in terms of an adequate viewing gallery eg Nottingham's indoor futures.

The venues for futures and challengers are more or less constant...the only two variables are the two autumn challengers...they've varied between Southampton, Sunderland, Nottingham and Shrewsbury so far. These are the main venues used:

Manchester, Nottingham, Jersey, Sheffield, Sunderland, Felixstowe, Frinton, Ikley, Wrexham, Exmouth, Bournemouth, Edinburgh, Sutton.

Check the British tour calendar on the LTA site, they're pretty good, get to watch upcoming youngsters...John went to the one in Corby earlier this yr for several days...I'll definately be going there next yr.

There is a tropicana tour tournament in West Worthing (which is pretty near to me) around August. I might see if I can drop in.

I shouldn't moan really, cos I'm only a 20-minute drive from Eastbourne.

I've dug about a bit and there are a couple of venues that host lower-level tournaments in Brighton. I daresay they are really little events so would be surprised if a spectator showed up!