Wimbledon Champions - Part I

Tennis has been a very important part of my life since I was a kid. My Mum and Dad took me with them to the tennis court ever since I could walk, Tennispark Mulder in Maastricht. Soon enough I started swinging a (much too big) racket and spend hours and hours playing against the wall, was it at home, or at the tennis club. Dad, JP (my brother) and I must have spend 1.000's of hours on the court and it was as much fun for me as I believe also for them. In a later blog I will elaborate a bit more about my (humble) international tennis career, that has given me the opportunity to play with and meet many interesting people and some of my heroes.

Definitely the biggest heroes of all were those who had won Wimbledon. To most of the tennis affecionados Wimbledon is THE most prestigeous tournament to participate, let alone to win. In the mid 70's, when I was a promising junior player in Holland, JP (a very good player, still is now) and I spent out X-mas holidays in the south of Spain. JP was already living in Spain at the time, I flew over to Madrid and we'd drive in his Seat 1430 or later the very sporty 124 Sport to Mijas, listening to Led Zeppelin or Rory Gallagher. Mijas the home town of 'Lew Hoad Campo de Tenis'

Various Davis Cup players of various countries (Germany, South Africa) came over to this fantastic club to keep fit and practice, it was a heaven for tennis players, nice courts, beautiful centre court, surrounded by beautiful flora. And then there was Lew Hoad. A real gentlemen, long, lean and handsome. Arms like my legs. He'd pick up a racket like we'd pick up a straw.

Lewis Alan 'Lew' Hoad has won 4 singles titles in the Grand Slam circuit, a true champion, amongst those twice Wimbledon in 1956 and 1957. We were lucky enough to play with him in the mid 70's, some 18 years after his most valuable tournament wins, but boy could the guy still play. It has inspired me a great deal and also tought me that the famous are just of flesh and blood like you and me. In fact in their natural surrounding they hate to be treated as superstars, but just wanna have a beer with the guys and a good laugh. In that same club we also met and played with James Hunt (1976 F1 World Champion), read about it in Consul's blog (see links).

Mr Hoad died in Fuengirola Spain, July 3rd 1994 of a heart attack after having suffered from leukemia, at the age of 59. (Why do all my heroes die young?). In fact years later I had a brief encounter with Rod Laver (another Wimbledon Champion and Grand Slam winner) at a sports exhibition in Atlanta and told him I had known Lew Hoad and rather than being impressed by the presence of Rod Laver and take a picture with him, we both started talking about Lew Hoad and the true example he was. I guess Rod Laver soon understood the respect I had for Lew and was charmed by it. Goes to show how superstars are.

Good memories these are, but as said in my first blog, no melancholy, only happiness of having known great men like Lew Hoad. In upcoming posts I will tell about other Wimbledon champs I met in their natural surroundings and (some) played with, Manolo Santana, Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Jan Kodes. All interesting and different characters .