With this year’s French Open and Wimbledon looming large on the horizon, tennis fans in Hertfordshire will be able to fine-tune their own talents more easily, thanks to the launch of a new app backed by Andy Murray and Tim Henman.

Deuce is an initiative which aims to make it simple, fun and affordable for everyone to play more tennis.

The idea is to match members with welcoming coach-led sessions and available nearby courts and in the future find potential hitting partners and provide exclusive tennis content from pros and experts in the field.

Already a hotbed for the sport and boasting the largest tennis facility in the country, Hertfordshire has been chosen to pilot the innovative new tech.

Users can sign up for free, fun coach-led sessions and by the end of the month will be able to book free local courts too.

Four-time Wimbledon semi-finalist Henman is among those to throw in his support for the app, alongside three-time Grand Slam champion Murray, and the former urged people in the area to take advantage of the new opportunity.

“When you look at participation in terms of British tennis as a whole, the numbers are declining, and that’s where I feel that something like Deuce can be the first real initiative in the grassroots of the game that can have a real big impact and hopefully change that decline,” said Henman.

“It’s an interesting debate because there’s plenty of people that have said in the past that we need to be in every area of the country, whether that’s Hull or Cornwall or wherever it may be.

“I think in actual fact you really want to work with the hubs and the areas that have tennis history and tennis pedigree - really make those work and then spread out from there.

“We have those areas that have that heritage and Hertfordshire has had some good players over the years. There’s some good facilities in that area so it’s a logical place to start and I think the easiest way is to go to the website where people can login and join and go from there.

“For me tennis is a great game, you can play for life, it’s an active lifestyle where you meet people and have fun so fingers crossed that Deuce can be a big success.”

From July, a monthly subscription model will roll-out with Deuce members getting a court every day of the week and a Deuce coach-led session a week for just £10 a month.

The app will then be extended across hotspots around Great Britain by the end of the year.

Co-founder Matt Willcocks was the former tennis director at Gosling Sports Park (Herts) and admitted a desire to see empty courts used more frequently had been a driving factor behind the idea.

“What I was thinking was there are 2.7 million people that want to play more tennis, every day there are 230,000 court hours that can be played on and there are 6,000 coaches who can offer great sessions,” he explained.

“I was thinking about how we can combine those things and actually see if we can encourage more and more people to play and that’s where we came up with Deuce.

“It’s £10 a month and people get a court a day and a session a week at no extra cost at all.

“Hertfordshire Tennis really understand that tennis is a team sport and they’ve been very successful.

“That ethos of teamwork goes through absolutely everything they do so to take Deuce to Hertfordshire, it just seemed a natural fit and they’ve welcomed it with open arms.”

Deuce is an initiative backed by Andy Murray that is designed to make it simple, fun and affordable to play more tennis. Visit www.deucetennis.com to find and book free, friendly coach-led sessions suitable for everyone and available at a location near you.