AN uncle-nephew tennis double act from Stourbridge were crowned the best family pairing in the country after surging to victory at the National Finals of the Quorn Family Tennis Cup last weekend.

There’s a 30-year age gap between Joe Hart and James Griffiths but they proved a peerless partnership at state-of-the-art National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, where top stars Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund hone their talent.

Their eventual triumph was all the more remarkable given Hart, 14, dragged Griffiths, who is head coach at Bromsgrove Tennis Club, out of a two-year retirement from match play for the event.

Indeed the pair had never played competitively in a doubles tournament before scraping through regional qualifying in Coventry, in third place, to make the National Finals.

They had to fight hard for the trophy, with stern examinations from Greg and Leonardo Santoro-Fergusson, from Berkshire, in the quarter-final winning a thrilling tie-break at 8-8.

But a 7-4 win over Richmond pair James and Jamie Kober sealed victory and Griffiths couldn’t hide his elation at the result.

“It means a lot - to come as the top family pair in the country is a big achievement,” he said.

“Amazingly, the first time we ever played together was a few months ago in the qualifiers!

“Joe got me out of retirement from this and it’s a good job he did. He asked me and I couldn’t really say no.

“We played some of our best tennis of the weekend in the final, we were able to relax and get the job done.

“We grew into our partnership over the week and it was great to see him learning more and more about how to play doubles.

“The facilities at the National Tennis Centre are fantastic and it was an honour to get to play there. But there will be a few sore limbs next week - not least for me!”

The fourth edition of the Quorn Family Tennis Cup, an increasingly unique opportunity for adults and juniors to play doubles together, brought the top 16 family pairings in the country under one roof.

It was a yellow ball event, targeted at juniors from 10 and 18, with the LTA also staging red ball versions, aimed at kids under the age of 10, where 7,000 players take to the court nationally.

Joe and James were given treatment worthy of tour professionals over the weekend, offered the same trappings and luxuries as Murray and Edmund when they train in SW15.

All families took advantage of accommodation on-site, free meals, kit giveaways and even could record their games for posterity via the venue’s cameras.

Joe, 14, was thrilled to get the chance to play at the venue and winning the trophy put the icing on the cake of a great weekend.

“It’s a big confidence-booster for me to come away with a trophy,” he said.

“It's quite weird playing with someone you know so well. It's weird in a good way but scary sometimes. It's a bit close to home.

"I'm more of a singles player but I play doubles when I can. I know his game as well as I know mine. It's different to playing with other people. He's not bad for his age - he's a good player.”

The Quorn Family Tennis Cup has red ball events for under 10s as well as Yellow ball events for juniors up to 18. All the events are fun, family focussed and are always doubles events where parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents get to play as well. Find out more at lta.org.uk/quorntennis.