It may be three weeks away but Derbyshire's players are already hard at work on the practice courts – ahead of this year's County Week.
For the past four weeks, members of the men's county tennis team have been filling their spare hours training for the AEGON Summer County Cup at the Derbyshire Tennis Centre.
They travel to Eastbourne next month to play in Division One of the annual competition – and could face the likes of world-class Brits Andy and Jamie Murray.
Derbyshire earned top-flight status last year after finishing second in Division Two. They have not been in the top division since 2007.
Non-playing captain Dennis Archer has already picked his squad and has only added one player to the side which secured promotion last year.
And he has been joining his team at the tennis centre, in Ashe Place, for each week's two-hour practice ahead of the five-day tournament, which takes place at the ATP and WTA venue Devonshire Park.
Archer, who has been at County Week for more than 40 years as either player or captain, said the training sessions had been going well.
He said: "It's been pretty good so far, although we are practising on indoor hard courts at the moment.
"It will be much better when we get on the grass but, over the years, we've found the bad weather in June and July actually makes that quite difficult.
"It's also been difficult to sometimes get all the lads together because they all have other commitments but, in the next couple of weeks, we will step things up and get out on the grass.
"They are a really good bunch of lads and we're all very much looking forward to the challenge at Eastbourne this year.
"It's always a great atmosphere because the top women play there as well and we think we can do well."
Chris McPherson returns from Brazil to join the seven-strong squad of Chris Archer, Dan Cottier, James Rushby, Tom Rushby, Chris Simpson, Simon Thornewill and reserve Steve Amey which triumphed at Cromer, Norfolk, last year.
Chris Archer, Cottier, James Rushby, Tom Rushby, Simpson and Thornewill were also part of last year's Winter County Cup, in Cardiff, and five of them were nominated for men's player of the year at the 2011 Derbyshire Tennis Awards.
Archer said his players' experience as players, competitors and coaches throughout their tennis careers would stand them in good stead for the tournament.
He said: "The lads are all about 25 and 26 and most of them have been playing for the county for the best part of 10 years.
"You usually get a good bunch of lads that come through together and, because they've grown up together, they make a really good team.
"I think they've all played at Eastbourne before, apart from Chris Simpson, and, outside of County Week, they're playing tennis all of the time.
"That means they have bags of experience and this won't be a new situation for them.
"They've also played most of the teams we'll see before so, hopefully, they should know what to expect.
"Derbyshire's done incredibly well over the years, given the size of the county, so we've got a really positive attitude about this year."
Each day, starting on Monday, July 18, teams participating in County Week will play nine rubbers to determine the winner, with six singles and three doubles matches.
This year, Derbyshire will play Hertfordshire, North of Scotland, Kent, Surrey and last year's Division Two champions Yorkshire.
In the past, British number one and world number four Andy Murray has represented the North of Scotland, as has his brother, doubles specialist Jamie.
Archer said: "That's the whole idea of County Week and the lads would relish the chance of playing these guys.
"Some of them have already played them before and, in the past when I played, you found yourself playing with or against people like Jeremy Bates and Andrew Jarrett.
"But, whatever happens, we will have some strong opponents. Some days we will have some really good chances and others we may not but we have to be optimistic.
"There's no point in not playing high and we have to remember how well we have been doing already. Derbyshire is definitely punching above its weight.
"We had some close matches and some tough matches the last time we were in Division One but, this year, we'll be ready for them all."