A good death

An elderly gentleman (EG), about 80 years old, was dressing for tennis. He had already attached a variety of supports for his elbow, back, knees and ankles. His last item was a pair of incontinence underpants. I told him that I admired his perseverance and wished him a good game. I had a shower and while dressing watched the tennis being played on the courts below. The EG was hitting up on court 12 and was the first to serve. He threw up the ball and then slowly crumbled to the ground. Three medicos on adjacent courts ran to his aid. Their efforts were not successful because it was later found that he had died from a ruptured aortic aneurysm. I thought: ‘What a good way to die. Pity he did not live for another 5 seconds and have the satisfaction of serving a last ace’.

No killer instinct

Tennis was a pleasure that I never took seriously enough to actually train. In the final of the men's 60+ Australian Teams Championship, my partner was Arthur Marshall, a tennis coach turned politician who had twice played in the Men’s Singles at Wimbledon. We won the first set but were behind in the must win second set. Arthur told me that he was going to pick a fight to disrupt our opponents’ concentration. I was not keen on this idea. Arthur berated me: "Your problem is that you have no killer instinct. You've always lacked a killer instinct. I have been a major sportsman all my life and I have never won an Australian title and this is my last chance. You are not going to fluff it”. He then picked a fight with the two Queenslanders, They retorted: "Arthur, we’ve checked you out. We know you were the dirtiest player in the West Australian football league and we are too long in the tooth to fall for your tricks”. They then went to pieces. (Photo of Arthur Marshall)

American business ethics

One of my regular singles opponents applied for a CEO position in an American bio-medical company. He named me as one of his referees. He was short listed and I was interviewed by phone for one hour. The following day the chairman of the interview panel phoned again. He asked me about my friend’s tennis line calls. I attested to his honesty. The follow up question was what he would do if he was unsure whether the ball was in  or out. I stated that he would follow the rules of tennis and call the ball in. He did not get the job.

Tennis and the Stock Market

In the 1980s, the era of WA Inc. several RKPTC members were floating companies for mining and even for fish leather. I knew nothing about investing in startup companies but I reasoned, on first principles, that good tactical tennis players who could read their opponents strengths and weaknesses would be able to do the same with the stock market. I was wrong. My failed investments proved beyond doubt that there was no correlation between a high tennis rating at RKPTC and stock market success. In fact, it was just the opposite.

‘I do not care if your name is Rod Laver’.

In 1974, I moved to City Beach and thought It would be more convenient to join the local tennis club. I applied and was told they had a 6-year waiting list. In 1979, I received a phone call from Harry Jarman, a founding member and 20-year president of the City Beach Tennis Club, inviting me to have a tennis standards test the following Sunday morning. I informed him that I was a member of the RKPTC team that had recently defeated City Beach in the final of the 45+ pennants and could therefore forgo such a test. Harry stated that he did not care if my name was Rod Laver - I still had to have a test. I passed and that allowed me to become a mid-week member. A year after I was elevated to full membership. I found the atmosphere somewhat authoritarian and weekend tennis was rarely enjoyable. So, the following year I resigned and stayed with RKPTC.

Best Doctor’s letter

Daryl Johnstone, Geoff Salmon, Abdi Hoosenally and I used to play every Saturday at 11 am before social play began. Abdi was an honest caller, but when an opponent serviced down the ‘T’, Abdi would often call it out. I reasoned that he probably had astigmatism and sent him to the ophthalmologist, Dr Andrew Stewart. My referral letter stated: ‘My tennis partner is an honest man. But he often mis-calls services down the middle of the court. I am sure that this is due to astigmatism. Dr Stewart replied: ‘Your tennis partner Abdi’s sight is perfect. Have you had your eyes tested recently?

The fragility of a medical reputation

One of my tennis friends developed a 4cm high pear shaped lump in the middle of his head. It was a keratoacanthoma. The usual course of events is that it drops off. However, this can take up to two years. Since he was a teacher who looked like a unicorn, I advised him to have it removed. He chose to wear a hat. One day it fell off, resulting in the predictable and uncontrolled mirth of his students. He decided to visit a plastic surgeon who biopsied the lesion. The pathologist reported a low-grade squamous cell carcinoma; that is, consistent with it being a keratoacanthoma. I had never used the word cancer in my explanation knowing that my tennis partner/patient would freak out at the mention of the big C. He did just that and opted for immediate surgery. The following week I overheard a group of lady members discussing the case. One began: "Did you know Max Kamien missed a cancer that was growing through Michael's brain? (pause) And he's a professor!" A GP's wife replied: "Well, my husband always says those that can, do and those that can't, teach. Such are the vagaries of a medical life.

The secret of tennis and life

Having been unable to purchase a ticket of entry, I attended day 3 of the1953 Davis Cup Final by marching into Kooyong with the ball boys. It was a thriller. It had it all. Australian teenagers versus experienced Americans. The previous day the long serving Chairman of the LTAA, Sir Norman Brookes (1926-1955) had ignored the two established doubles combinations of Hoad/Rosewall and Hartwig/Rose and insisted on playing the scratch combination of Hartwig and Hoad, who lost . The USA led 2-1 coming into the final day. Hoad was down in the 5th set against Trabert, then world number one. It was drizzling and Hoad, wearing spikes for the first time, fell. Harry Hopman threw a towel over Hoad’s head and shouted at him. Hoad got going, hit a series of winners and won 7-5. I always wanted to know what Hopman said. In 1995, Hoad’s wife, Jenny Staley Hoad, was a guest of the Carney’s at Busselton Beach Resort. After partnering her in a doubles match against Geoff Mueller and Dan Carney I asked her the question. She replied: “Harry said, Watch the ball. So there it was, 3 words that revealed the secret of tennis and the secret of life.

A few years ago, I read Lew Hoad’s biography in which he mentioned this incident. ‘I was worried and puzzled because the match had swung away from me since I had donned the spikes, and I lay there on the grass for a moment like a football player who had been heavily tackled. Hopman came over, threw a towel in my face and said something like this, “You big clumsy-footed oaf.”

It was such a ridiculous thing for him to have done at such a tense moment in the match, I burst out laughing and the crowd laughed too, along with Trabert and Talbert (the USA captain) and referee Cliff Sproule.

Hopman must have thought I looked too tense and calculated this would relax me. He was right. It may have looked like a joke to the crowd, but it was a thoughtful piece of work. I got up feeling a little more sure of myself after having had a good laugh.

So maybe the secret of tennis and life is threefold. Watch the ball, don’t take yourself too seriously and relax. (Photo of a young Lew Hoad below)

Keeping a cool head

 14/1/1978. WA open quarterfinal: Bob Carmichael, age 37 defeated Mal Anderson, age 43, in five sets. The temperature was 44.7°C. Towards the end of the fifth set Anderson became disoriented. He lost the last two games to love. Nowadays, competitive tennis is called off if the temperature exceeds 37 °C . Carmichael, who was once a carpenter, revealed that he kept a cool head by putting a chilled cabbage leaf under his hat . You can confirm this advice by Googling “Under the lush cabbage leaf, blessedly cool!”. Carmichael (nicknamed ‘Nails’) became an elite players’ coach. Most of his high achieving protegees agreed that he taught them about life as well as about tennis. He demanded that his players fight to the last breath, but if they lost, they should lose “like an Australian”, looking the winner in the eye and proffering a firm handshake.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1984/06/27/under-the-lush-cabbage-leaf-blessedly-cool/a37b4ace-45ae-4374-b95e-1daacc8ea407/

A tennis inspiration

 Dan Carney and I became a Vets tennis doubles pair. We usually made the semi-finals but rarely progressed any further. But in 1985 we were in the club’s 45+ finals against Geoff Mueller and Mike McCausland. I have never see Dan play better. Some of his winners were comparable to Roger Federer at his best. We won in short time. Before shaking hands with our opponents and friends, Dan darted onto the next court and shook hands with a man playing singles. Dan said “ Frank , you always were an inspiration to me”. It was Frank Sedgman, 1952 Wimbledon singles, men’s and mixed doubles champion and a tennis icon of our youth. (Photo of Frank Sedgman)

In the Groove

St Patrick’s Day 1981. Dan Carney had organised the West Australian Symphony Orchestra to give an evening concert on the Centre Courts on behalf of the Princess Margaret Hospital. The WASO arrived at 10.30 am for a rehearsal. They set up in the lower pavilion and because of the heat opened all the windows. Shortly after the most divinely pure music resonated from them. The lower pavilion is an acoustically perfect sound box. I was on court 15 being thrashed by George Bray. George complained that he hated classical music and it was upsetting his rhythm. It did wonders for mine. He did not win another game.

WA Governor’s Tennis Team 1985-1988

I was playing singles against Wayne Millen on court 17. The WA Governor, Gordon Reid, was being coached by Arthur Marshall on Court 18. He had been the Deputy Vice-Chancellor at UWA when I was having much difficulty in setting up the new venture of a Department of Community Practice. He thought all my innovations were novel or praiseworthy but needed money which he was unwilling to risk. He concluded each meeting or letter with the pig latin phrase: ”Nil illegitimi carborundum”. (Don’t let the bastards grind you down). He said he did not know that I was a tennis player and invited me to become a member of the Governor’s Tennis team. I was the only member personally selected by the Governor. All the others were selected by a past president of RKPTC who had been doing the job for close on 20 years. When Gordon Reid died so did my membership of the Governor’s team. I imagine the job of Governor would be  pretty tedious. If I were to become Governor, the best part would be playing in my tennis (and I presume, golf) teams and inviting all my mates and people that I would like to know to Government House for dinner and not have to cook it or clean up afterwards.

Our best member?

Before I began my study on tennis elbow I needed to clarify who was a regular player. One such person on the members list was Princess Jah. Her proper title was Princess Ayesha (the radiant one) Jah. She was a Perth girl, Helen Simmons, but now the second wife of Mukarram Jah, the last Nizam of Hyderabad. His grandfather, Nizam Osman Ali Khan, was once the richest man in the world.* I phoned her and got an earful about how she hated tennis and was never a member of any tennis club. I informed her that she was probably our best member since she had paid her dues for five years without wearing out any of our grass courts. My sleuthing discovered that she was a bored princess. Her husband suggested she take up tennis. He organised what was her two tennis lessons from Rob Casey and his bank paid her yearly tennis club fees. This inattention to financial outgoings was a precursor of the Nizam going from being one of the richest men in the world to a WA bankrupt. He died in 2022 in Turkey.

*John Zubrzycki. The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback.

An Agronomist joins the Grounds Committee

An agronomist, carries out scientific experiments aimed at improving plant and agricultural production. John Millington was one of the best known in Australia. He had contributed to WW2 victory by improving the growing of flax needed in the manufacture of British fighter planes, pioneered tropical agriculture in Kununurra and  the avocado industry in the Southwest of WA. He also experimented with tennis racquets and had discovered that double stringing  (ie two strings through each frame hole) produced better control and devilish spin. This did not accord with the rules on tennis equipment, but John was his own man and that did not stop him. After joining RKPTC he was co-opted to chair the Grounds Committee. In his first year the hibiscus hedge died. The following year we had a plague of black beetles that left multiple lumps on the courts. He resigned and joined the City Beach Tennis Club. He lived nearby and remained a family friend, even after our garden died after being mistakenly sprayed with arsenic. It took me a long time to understand  that agronomists do experiments. What RKPTC and I needed was a gardener. John moved to Canberra to be close to his daughter. He died in 2012 aged 102. He attributed his long life to regular swimming and tennis.

RKPTC Shoe tags in the Great Pyramid of Giza

In 1986, my wife, Jackie and I visited the Great Pyramid of Giza and walked the 4500 year old passageway from the Grand Gallery to the King's Chamber. It takes about 20 minutes and in places the passage is only 100 cm high. You walk in a tight line so that every time I had to double up I could see the left shoe of the man in front of me. It had a RKPTC squash tag. My right shoe had a composite member tag. We did not know each other but bonded briefly in the sepulchre -chamber of King Khufu and his wife Queen Henutsen. I think my clubsman’s surname was Ayris but my memory might be failing me. Sadly, our paths never crossed again.

Best Books on Tennis

The Inner Game of Tennis

The Ultimate Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

by W. Timothy Gallwey 1972

Timothy Gallwey’s message was that all games have two parts. An outer game played against an opponent and an inner game of self-doubt , anxiety and loss of concentration, played against ourselves. His antidote was to relax and let your sub-conscious mind, that he calls inner intelligence, guide your play. His message has influenced thousands of players. Billy Jean King, a 12 times grand slam singles champion said Gallwey’s book was her ‘tennis bible’.

Tennis for Thinking Players

by Chet Murphy 1982

This book was written as a reposte to Timothy Gallwey. Chet Murphy visited RKPTC in the late 1980’s. He showed a film about John McEnroe’s pugnacious “You can’t be serious?” questioning of line calls. McEnroe was always wrong. But confrontation was his ‘kryptonite’.

The Pros. The forgotten heroes of tennis

by Dr Peter Underwood (Member RKPTC 1980s)

Launched at RKPTC 2017 by Rob Casey. In his forward to this book, Australian tennis legend, John Newcombe writes: “My belief is that to truly love your sport you must have an understanding of its history and past heroes.” This book covers the period from 1930 to 1968. It focuses on 8 world champions (Bill Tilden, Ellsworth Vines, Don Budge, Bobby Riggs, Jack Kramer, Pancho Gonzales, Ken Rosewall and Rod Laver) who got sick of playing for glory and decided to use their tennis skills to earn a living. Although they were, at their peak, the best in the world, they were shunned by the tennis administrators of their day and banned from competing in the world's major tournaments. So they travelled around America and other parts of the world playing real matches against each other for prize money and the status of being top dog. They paved the way for the era of open tennis that began in 1968. This book is also a primer on tennis psychology in that it gives the reader an insight into the champions’ backgrounds, personalities, the development of their individual styles and their journey towards the mastery of their craft. It is the best book on tennis history that I have read.

WA Tennis History ‘Tennis West. A History of the Western Australian Lawn Tennis Association from 1890s to 1990s’. 

by Harry Phillips 1995

A scholarly history of the development of tennis in WA with vignettes of our leading and visiting players and administrators. There is a comprehensive index

The McGibbon Years-A history of the first 50 years of Kings Park Tennis Club

by Lindsay and Graeme Cox

Lindsay is one our oldest permanent members. This history is a labour of love. It is a limited edition. There is a copy in the tennis club office. Handle it with care.

An old player’s lament

A younger tennis friend from my student days in Adelaide informed me he was coming to Perth and wanted to visit RKPTC and avenge a defeat that I had administered in 1955. I replied:

1. Macular degeneration 2. C5 Radiculopathy 3. Tendon tears R ankle 4. Spinal stenosis 5. Deafness-can’t hear the ball or the score 6. Body Mass Index > 30

In short I can only play doubles. He replied: Have you thought about taking up bridge? I answered: I do not like intellectual defeat. Physical defeat is a different matter. If you can’t run, see or hear then standing in the sun and serving an occasional ace is a bonus.