TENNIS balls used by the stars of this year’s Wimbledon are making cosy new home for rodent residents of the Lakes Aquarium at Lakeside, near Newby Bridge.

Balls from the 125th tennis championships at SW19 – where Brit Andy Murray is in the running to net his first Grand Slam title – are often passed on to charities to be auctioned.

But aquarium employee Cathy Burrows was speaking to a someone from the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum who told her the balls were available – and she jumped at the chance to make a quirky new home for some of the aquarium’s mice.

Marketing co-ordinator at the aquarium Susan Milby said: “They make a nice, but different display for us.

"We cut a little hole in the top of the balls and the mice fit into them easily.

“They seem to like their new home as they are quite snug for house mice.

“Visitors are definitely intrigued and keep asking which players have used the balls, but unfortunately we don’t know that.”

Meanwhile, Cumbrian eyes turned this week to the tournament’s junior girls’ competition after Daneika Borthwick from Aspatria reached the third round of the contest.

Miss Borthwick, 18, defeated 15th seed Jesika Maleckova 6-2 6-3 to set up her third round clash against Russian number three seed Irina Khromacheva today.

And while visitors to SW19 tuck into strawberries and cream, there has been the usual boom in people getting out on local courts.

Heversham with Milnthorpe Tennis Club chairman Graham Honeybone said: “We usually get a few more inquiries at this time and certainly there is more interest in tennis in the two weeks of Wimbledon.

"People that don’t play that regularly develop an interest."