Originally, the tennis club was sited on the other side of the main road, near where the Scout Hut is situated. Like most of the local tennis courts at this time, these were a typeof shale surface, which was very slow and needed frequent maintenance. Some time after the Second World War, probably when Brockington School was built, the Club relocated onto the present site with two hard courts at the end of the playing fields. However, the Club also had the use of four similar courts in the grounds of the school and the pegboard still has these courts marked on.
The nineteen sixties was dominated by two men, Graham Merry and Bert Cockerill who
won four and three singles titles respectively while Ruth Norman began her reign as the
Club’s leading lady. We should also mention George (Slasher) Harratt, who particularly,
terrorised the ladies with his vicious spin. George, who stood about five feet high adapted
his game to slice anything that came near him, killing the bounce, and on his ‘day’
he produced so much spin that he was unplayable. As we moved into the Seventies Alan Philpott took over the mens singles with four straight titles while Ruth Norman began an unbeaten run of nine successive titles. During the seventies the racquets, also began to
be refined, so that the small-headed wooden type that had served for generations, began
to evolve into composite frames, bigger heads and lighter frames.
We also saw junior coaching under John Yates so that the children of the sixties members
began to force their way into the reckoning with coached forehands and double handed
backhands. John’s son, Martin took over the Singles mantle, usually fighting it out with
his namesake Martin Hopkins.
Between seventies and the eighties, the racquets changes from wood based technology to
metal and composite and the heads came in various sizes from basic to ‘dustbin lid’. It is
worth noting that in this period Dave Webb played thirteen singles finals without winning
any of them. He did, however do very well in the doubles titles.
Nineteen Eighty saw the arrival of the third court. This was the culmination of many years
work and allowed Enderby to play proper matches (three sets to nine games) for the first
time. The Brockington Courts were now in too poor a state to be used, even for Club play.
Into the nineteen eighties, we saw Martin Yates win four successive singles titles, until he left the Club for greener fields. The next dominant force to emerge was Mark Robins, who won his first title at thirteen and reeled off four titles and at the same time forced the Mens First Team up to division two. He left to join Carisbrooke, were he won the Leicester Singles title at the peak of his powers. He also became a regular in the County side for many years.
For the ladies, we saw Anne Cockerill, daughter of Bert, begin to dominate, she reeled off two titles, married, and became Anne Poli, but continued her reign, interrupted briefly by her elder sister, Susan.
Into the nineteen nineties, Martin Hopkins seized his chance and reeled off three successive singles titles, his first singles title was at the age of 37, while Anne Poli carried on her winning ways. However, the Club saw many changes as Anne and Martin moved to join bigger clubs and the old regime gave way to an influx of juniors coming up through
the ranks.
The first, Matthew Newcomb soon established himself with two successive titles, while Richard Freestone and the not so young Robin Hall battled it out for three titles each. As we reached the new Millennium, it was all change for the Ladies, with Suzanne Roberts
and Vivian Williams fighting it out for two titles each, before heading south to join Lutterworth Tennis Club.
For the men, the noughties was still dominated by the emerging juniors, with Adam Jewell, who had lost to Robin in the final the previous year, finally reaching the top. Indeed, he was to play in six successive finals, winning three of them.
The Ladies meanwhile, had a slight vacuum. With no juniors to fill the void, Helen Philips claimed two successive titles, and it was left to the emerging Francesca Gutteridge to battle her way to the top, winning her first title at only fourteen years of age and retaining the
title the following year.
On present form she looks certain to dominate in the near future, any takers?
For the men, there is no obvious winning candidate, with several strong and capable contenders warily eyeing some potential junior champions. Interesting…