Players are rarely happy to be defeated by Wilf Scholz on the tennis court – and they’re about to get even more upset.
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The oldest member of the Albury Tennis Club, who has been playing there since 1958, turned 90 on Saturday.
Mr Scholz said it wasn’t just his “good back-hand drop-shot” that had worked up his opposition over the past few decades.
“I used to annoy the opposition because they were 20-odd years younger than me,” he said.
“They would come off and say, ‘Oh he's fitter than me!’ and that was when I was about 50.
“I can’t get any player to challenge me in my age group – they’ve all gone by the wayside.
“When I was at my best in tennis, my volley was the best part of my game.”
Mr Scholz plays twice a week and enjoys it now as much as he did during the prime of his career.
“At 18, I played in the Albury and district A reserve championship,” he said.
“There was a player highly fancied to win and he would just carve every player up.
“I set up on the side of the court and watched him play – he was a left-hander and put the player right off the court.
“I thought, righto, he can do that to me if he likes, I’ll lob it real deep or make it come in right in the corner on his backhand.
“I beat him 6-4, 6-4 and that surprised me and everybody else.
“I can still hold my serve – it’s a matter of keeping fit and having a wonderful wife.”
Tennis has been a source of joy in more ways than one – his wife, Glenda, said they first met during a match.
“The grass court at Albury used to have timber stands going up quite high for when Rosewall and Hoad would come,” Mrs Scholz said.
“I was sitting up in the top stand, knitting.”
Mr Scholz said he spotted her straight away.
“I thought, geeze, she would make a handy little wife – she looks as though she’s ready to settle down – which she was,” he said.
Mrs Scholz said they were married a year later and united in their tennis interests too.
“I belonged to East and he belonged to Glenly,” she said.
“Jack Clark, the town clerk, said, ‘Now you’re married you have to belong to the same club, I’ll introduce you’ – you had to have an introduction in those days to get into the Albury Tennis Club.”
Albury's golden days are something Mr Scholz sometimes finds himself reminiscing about, but nonetheless, he will be playing there until he “drops dead”.
In the meantime, there’s a new hobby the tennis fan and former gun shearer is enjoying with his lovely wife.
“My favourite past-time is going down to the Star Cafe for a cappuccino,” he said.
