Ever looked at a display of historical items and thought little of it. But hear the stories about them; how they were gained, lost, built, gambled for, fought over, suddenly they become that more interesting.
There is a small collection of tennis memorabilia at the Rockhampton Regional Tennis Centre that largely goes ignored. Partly because of where they are located and rarely promoted, but mainly because without the stories they are just photos and trophies. The fact they have to do with the world’s greatest tennis player should make them a tourist shrine, but even the dedicated fan would expect more from his home town than a few shelves of old trophies and faded photo’s. Where are the stories?
Next Saturday night the Cressy Tennis Club celebrates their 70th anniversary as a club. Unfortunately there is very little history kept from starting in 1946 to 1975. No one seems real sure when the Club changed its name from Eureka to Cressy. Even current members wrongly assume the name Cressy reflects perhaps a Crescent Lagoon origin, not knowing the Tasmanian inspiration to the name. Perhaps the records were just lost or discarded as members wondered who would be interested, let alone thinking that the club would still be in existence in 2016.
And do current members really care, don’t they just want to play a game of tennis.
It is a funny thing when you join a club, you can start to feel part of something bigger; want to wear the club shirt, get your name on the club champion trophy, look forward to being part of the team that beat the other club, socialise with fellow members and after a while wonder how did the club come about; the stories.
Next Saturday night is to be the night of stories, not just Cressy stories, but Rockhampton tennis stories.
Rockhampton has a rich tennis history; Rod Laver being the standout chapter. There are others from Rockhampton who have played on famous courts throughout the world though; two local players currently on the international circuit.
It would be interesting to create a list of Rockhampton’s top 20 players of all time and list their achievements.
Then there are the players who have played in Rockhampton. A young Pat Rafter slept under the pool table at a well known local family home when competing in Rockhampton. The greatest grand slam winner Margaret Court played here. Grand slam winners Fred Stolle, Tony Roche, Ken Rosewall and Samantha Stosur have graced the Rockhampton courts. International stars like former number one Pancho Gonzales stirred the parochial local crowd playing Rod Laver. More recently 6 of the top 12 Australian female players competed in a satellite tournament in Rockhampton along with former Wimbledon semi-finalist Alexandra Stevenson.
If you are interested in tennis and want to hear the stories about the names on the trophies, the people in the photo’s come along to Nostalgia Night, it is unlikely you’ll ever have the opportunity to hear first hand these stories again. Contact me on 49266 422 for details.