Tennis is a smash hit at cutting crime

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Robby Sukhdeo, 51, remortgaged his house three times to enable him to take anti-social teenagers off the streets in north London and train them as tennis coaches for children.

Now the father-of-three has secured thousands of pounds in funding to transform Albert Road Recreation Ground in Bounds Green, so the Haringey community can enjoy free tennis.

The project is backed by Crimestoppers and the Tennis Foundation, the charity arm of the Lawn Tennis Association, which has given £500,000.

The foundation promotes tennis in deprived areas and has designated Albert Road as one of dozens of "beacon" parks around the capital. These are courts that are being revamped to get an extra million people playing tennis in the UK by 2013.

Mr Sukhdeo, who grew up in Haringey, said Albert Road had been transformed from a no-go area to a place where everyone could enjoy themselves.

He said: "People felt intimidated and afraid, there were break-ins and kids getting mugged. I realised the way to deal with the problem was to engage kids." The scheme began six years ago when Mr Sukhdeo convinced the council to lease him the run-down sports pavilion. Now it is a successful café and work begins this autumn resurfacing the six courts and adding floodlighting.

Many of the youths Mr Sukhdeo has coached have now gone on to college or found work in the café.

Some are tennis mentors to schoolchildren. Eddie Anderson, 17, a student who lives across the road from the courts and helps Mr Sukhdeo coach, said: "I used to come to the park with my mates and we used to go messing around because there was nothing to do. But now the park belongs to everyone and is the place to come and relax."

The executive director of the Tennis Foundation, Sue Mappin, said: "The aim is to get more people playing tennis for fun. It's not about identifying talent but about people having a hub where they can socialise and get healthy."