New balls please – Southport tennis ball amnesty this Saturday

Pets at Home Southport is to hold a tennis ball amnesty this Saturday to celebrate the first weekend of Wimbledon 2017.

The pet retailer is encouraging owners and their dogs to bring their old slobbery tennis balls into store this Saturday 8 July to dispose of them.

Customers who take part in the amnesty are being encouraged to shout the classic umpire catchphrase, “new balls please”, upon discarding their old tennis ball dog toy to receive a free, brand new one.

Great Britain’s Andy Murray, who will be hoping to progress past Dustin Brown in the second round recently admitted to Pets at Home’s My VIP magazine that Rusty, his dog, “is a tennis ball destroyer and gets through a lot of them” so his presence courtside isn’t always productive for Andy’s training, who instead Skypes his dogs while he is away on tour.

Peter Pritchard, CEO of Retail at Pets at Home, said: “We are all rooting for Andy to secure another Grand Slam and to celebrate the first weekend of Wimbledon; we are urging owners to exchange those old balls for a brand new, less slobbery one, so that those Wimbledon fanatic dogs can be more… Wimbledog.”