• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Living The Fantasy: An Interview With The Serpent Calls Author Christopher Bramley

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Sharp As A Razor: An Interview With Atheist Author Harry Margulies

    Karim Tahseen Khayat: Seeds Training Services and Digital Services

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    Dig into Temporarily Insane by Carl Borgen

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Dying woman granted final wish to be reunited with her beloved horse and pet dogs one last time

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    Artificial Intelligence and Online Casino Games

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    What are the Latest Digital Marketing Trends?

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Improve Your Financial Prospects With a Forex Trading Course

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    Adsterra Malware Protection: How Does Adware Work?

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    How to Sell Your Online Store for Maximum Profit

    From HID to LED

    From HID to LED

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Meet Britain’s oldest amateur tennis ace who still serves up game, set and match – aged 99

Nathan Sandhu by Nathan Sandhu
September 4, 2018
in News
0
Meet Britain’s oldest amateur tennis ace who still serves up game, set and match – aged 99

Thomas Hicks, 99 of Barnsley who still plays tennis weekly at Notton Tennis Club, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

10
SHARES
144
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Meet Britain’s oldest amateur tennis ace who still serves up game, set and match — aged 99.

Spritely great-grandfather-of-five Tom Hicks lives and breathes the sport and still smashes aces and challenges line calls at his local club.

The active pensioner continues to play tennis with friends three times a week, often sneaking in extra sessions to perfect his not so secret weapon – a backhand with spin.

He has been a member of Notton Tennis Club near Wakefield for 40 years and makes the short eight-minute journey from his home all year round no matter what the weather.

Father-of-two Tom has no plans to hang up his racket just yet and has set his sights on playing a game or two on his 100th birthday next year.

Thomas Hicks, 99 of Barnsley who still plays tennis weekly at Notton Tennis Club, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

He said: “It’s a sport I’ve always loved and I’ve played since I was a youngster.

“If I stopped playing, that’s when I’d start to feel my age, but keeping fit and healthy comes with playing tennis.

“I’ve always led an active lifestyle. I enjoy the fresh air and being with friends, so I’ll never stop playing tennis.

“It’s a good active game, it does keep you mobile but you can get injuries which take a bit longer to recover from.

“I like a backhand with spin low into the corner, nobody is ready for it and that’s my favourite. We never practice we just play.

“As long as I can do what I do now and play like I can I will continue. It’s now my number one sport.”

Thomas Hicks, 99 of Barnsley who still plays tennis weekly at Notton Tennis Club, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Tom Hicks aged 20 1939.

A bonus of his efforts on the court is that Tom, who lives in Royston near Barnsley, South Yorks., is in tip-top shape.

“I’m still able to get around the court,” he added.

“It’s just a social club and I play three times a week. I win sometimes but once I start getting beat over and over I’ll stop.

“We start with mixed doubles and have seven games each time. We come off and then change partners.

“We usually start at 9am and play until 12pm, it depends on how we feel.

“My first racket was a wooden Slazenger but I now have a nylon frame tennis racket. It’s a great improvement now with the rackets especially for people like me.

“I used to play bowls years ago but I couldn’t play that in the morning and tennis in the afternoon so I chose tennis.”

Tennis wasn’t always part of Tom’s life, he was instead more of a rugby fan at school because he couldn’t afford a racket.

But Tom does remember watching Fred Perry win his first Wimbledon in 1934 — when he was eight-years-old.

The now energetic pensioner had a brief hiatus from sport altogether following the outbreak of World War Two.

Thomas Hicks, 99 of Barnsley who still plays tennis weekly at Notton Tennis Club, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

Tom, whose life story is told in a book called Captured at Arnhem, left the railway where he was a steam engine driver and volunteered to join the Parachute Regiment.

He joined the 1st Parachute Squadron of the Royal Engineers and was captured when he fought at Arnhem and spent many months in a prisoner of war camp in Germany.

But he was persuaded to join the Notton Tennis Club by a friend 40 years ago and hasn’t looked back since.

Off the tennis court Tom keeps fit by gardening and dancing once a week.

José Guadalupe Leal Lemus currently holds the Guinness World Record for the oldest tennis player, aged 101 after taking up the game in 1925.

https://stories.swns.com/wp-content/uploads/tennis-ace-meet-213527.mp4
Previous Post

Excuse my French, but…Sacrebleu! Farewell Olympus, a new novel set in Paris, is laugh-out-loud escapism at its British best

Next Post

WATCH: Shocking moment illegal immigrants brazenly stowed away in the back of a van – while queuing outside Calais

Nathan Sandhu

Nathan Sandhu

Next Post
WATCH: Shocking moment illegal immigrants brazenly stowed away in the back of a van – while queuing outside Calais

WATCH: Shocking moment illegal immigrants brazenly stowed away in the back of a van - while queuing outside Calais

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 110 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 168k Subscribers
  • 23.5k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

May 4, 2022
How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

May 4, 2022

Recent News

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

The top 5 UK shopping centres with the highest footfall (and how this can help your business)

May 4, 2022
How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

How to build customer relationships and increase loyalty

May 4, 2022
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

Living and Working in a Small Canadian Town Like Banff

May 13, 2022
Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

Top 5 risks of addressable media advertising

May 6, 2022
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.