Danish researchers recently found that people who play tennis live longer than those who take up healthy but solitary activities such as running, swimming and cycling.

In a study, riding a bike (the most popular activity) four times a week was found to extend life by 3.7 years compared with a sedentary lifestyle and running 3.2 years.

But tennis, possibly because of the greater social interaction and feelgood factor, was linked to 9.7 added years of life.

Badminton and squash are good bets too.

Another study of 80,000 British men and women, in the British Journal of Sports Medicine last year, found that those who played racket sports tended to outlive those who ran to stay in shape.

The Times, Saturday October 6th