The 49-year-old Sunshine Coast native hasn’t just been competing with players more than 20 years his junior at Wodonga’s Victorian Junior Grasscourt Championships, he’s been beating them.

Flynn progressed to the semi-finals of the open men’s singles with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Jordan Sousa in the quarter-finals on Friday, but he’s not completely unfamiliar with the facilities at Wodonga Tennis Centre.

The children’s book writer made the 1986 Labour Day final at Wodonga, losing against former professional and current coach of women’s world number one Simona Halep, Darren Cahill, in three sets.

Flynn, a former Australian Open junior finalist, took some time away from playing tournaments, but returned to the scene in 2016 to see what he could achieve.

“I challenged myself a little bit last year and done better than I thought,” Flynn said.

“I’ve been very happy with my form.

“I arrived in Albury last week (for the Margaret Court Cup) and I was seeded and ended up coming up against the guy (Troy Lockwood) that won the tournament.

“It was my first match, so it was great to get some matches under the belt and I played the consolation and won that in Albury.

“The courts are different here, but they’re playing really well.

“It’s just great to be out there and winning some matches that’s for sure.

“They’re all at least 20 years younger than me, so it’s a good challenge, but in saying that, the grass courts are a good place to play them.

“I grew up playing a lot on grass and it’s a little bit of a different game.”

His results have been so good, they may force him to tinker with his plans.

“I’m supposed to play in the Australian seniors tournament on the Gold Coast on Sunday, and I’m driving,” Flynn laughed.

“But to have this amount of grass courts in a regional town like this is very unusual and it’s a really unique opportunity to play in tournaments like this.”

Flynn has recently started working with psychologist Anthony Ross on a project called Mentally Tough Tennis and has assisted a Sydney-based player in the past week on the Border.

“I get to travel a little bit and work with players to help them compete a little bit better,” he said.

Flynn will face Daniel Dossetor in Saturday’s semi-finals.