The event sees couples aged 16 and under play for a glorious trophy on arguably the best outdoor courts in the district.

The Blaze at Peebles is a labour of love for John Lord, who manicures the courts to such a level that they play like a dream and give the young players a fantastic opportunity to slide and have some fun on the most under-rated of surfaces.

This year saw nine couples battle it out with two pools of round robin leading to a semi-final and final. The semis saw pool A runners-up Lewis Armstrong & Ailsa Jackson (St Boswells) battle with pool B victors Andrew McQuarrie & Lisa Kerr (Duns) and pool A winners Lauren McCulloch & Philip Addison (Earlston) play Pool B runners-up Steven Rutherford (Innerleithen) and Emily Watson (Selkirk).

Both matches were close, but Andrew and Lisa won through with Steven and Emily. They went on to produce a superb final which was once again ably umpired by John Lord sitting high up in his chair, giving a flawless example of match umpiring. The tense final eventually saw the Duns pair winning through in a tie-break third set 7-5 after saving a match point in the second set.

Local lad Steven will always remember this game as it's the last match point he will have at his local youth event – he will be too old next year.

He told us: "Andrew and Lisa deserve to win, but I can't believe I missed a chance to keep the trophy local. That's tennis, though, and hopefully we can grab it back next year."

Helen Proudfoot is one of Borders tennis' greatest achievers and remains to date the only local to play at Wimbledon.

Jim Noble, chairman of Peebles Tennis Club, remarked on how good the standard of play was during this most well-organised and enjoyable event.

He said: "Congratulations to Andrew and Lisa and hopefully next year we can have more couples along. We should all remember Helen and her achievements and use them to try and match her excellence."