World-class tennis, gourmet barbeques, and ball boys dressed in Armani: Tatler reports from inside the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at the ultra-exclusive Hurlingham Club

It’s a stark reminder to the audience; he is just 17, still in school, but without a doubt, a player to watch. His ambitions don’t feel farfetched; he has already enjoyed an incredible run on the junior tour. Last year he won the junior US Open and reached the quarter-finals for Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open.

Despite his rising star, Fonseca looks, frankly, just delighted to be playing in the contest in front of such an esteemed crowd. It’s likely that he has never played on such prestigious courts before. The clubhouse, with its famous white neo-classical façade, is gorgeous in the beaming golden light. Founded in 1869, the Hurlingham Club feels like a hidden paradise in the centre of London; with 42 acres of luscious green gardens, croquet lawns and, of course, the tennis courts. Membership? Near impossible to acquire. New membership applications are currently closed, and the only viable way to get in at this point is to be born to a current member.

The exclusivity of the club appears to be a topic of conversation during the tennis classic. As I take in the scene, sipping on a glass of chilled champagne, a group of boys in front of me discuss how they have recently graduated from a family membership to their own adult membership. One of the boys, who must be in their late teens, tells the other, ‘I have just applied for my adult membership. I heard the joining fee was £18,000 – luckily, having been a member since basically the day I was born, the fee was waived by about 80 per cent. Can you believe it?’