A word with Vernon Aubrey

Friday, March 30, 2007 5:00

Vernon Aubrey, 41, Canterbury's most successful interclub singles tennis player, talks to Nick Tolerton after helping Waimairi to victory in the club final.

# Vernon Aubrey ? the name seems perfect for tennis.

No one's ever said that before! The guys have nicknamed me V8 since I used to play for Edgeware in the national league ? 'You're a motor.' They were behind the court the other day going brmmm brmmmm.

# How many clubs have you played for in your 26 senior interclub seasons?

My dad Ron got me involved in tennis, he was deeply passionate about the game but never had the opportunities I had. I was at Hagley Park as a junior and played at Elmwood a lot, too, then went to Bishopdale and played division one as a 14-year-old with Gary Lawson. There was a senior spot at Woolston and I made my senior debut for them. In that team happened to be Alistair Hunt's dad Colin, so I played with him. Then I played for Bishopdale for quite a lot of years as No. 1, then Avonhead with Alistair, he was No.2 and I was No.1. Then after getting my degree at Lincoln I went overseas and played for a professional team in Stuttgart with Michael Mooney, which taught me a lot about clay courts. Before that I also went to California and played rugby for a team for a while with some other guys from HSOB! When I came back I played interclub for Avonhead and played in the national league for Edgeware ? again with Alistair Hunt ? then went to the United club for a number of years and played with Mark Belcher who's also part of that 100 club, then Waimairi for the last seven or eight years. It was nice to win the title with Alistair, particularly when he said in the final "If you don't win we're going to lose!"

# Obviously Gary Lawson had a life before bowls?

He's one of the most competitive guys I've met ? and still is! We used to go away to tournaments together, and take on the North Island guys. He used to play a pretty good level of tennis nationally and he was a guy who had a big influence at the start of my career.

# Nice to top the Canterbury Tennis honours board for club singles wins ? how many have you had?

I think they take it back only for about 20 years, and in that time I've scored 161. There were five or six years when I was playing when they didn't count it. They wanted to start this thing to keep guys motivated to keep playing. However, I don't tend to focus on that at all. I don't play for that. What I enjoy is being involved with guys at all stages of life ? I play with guys like Christian O'Fagan in my team who's 16 and Alistair, and I also play every Wednesday with Earl Hagaman. Not many sports have that sort of mix. With tennis you can carry on as long as the body holds together. However, I couldn't have played as many games as I have without the support of my family ? my wife Helene and our three boys, Sheldon, 10, who's into cricket, Maddison, 7, who is very into tennis, and Keenan, 4.

# And last year you represented New Zealand?

Yes, I played with Mark Belcher (now with Hagley Park and also in the 100 club) and some others in Australasian seniors championships against state teams. New Zealand won that. We beat Queensland in the final.

# You keep yourself pretty fit for tennis still?

I think if you keep yourself fit, that's the key. In the off-season I run the Christchurch half marathon and try to do quite a bit of jogging, which sometimes fools juniors because they think, 'This old guy, I'll run him around.' It actually sometimes works the other way!

# Any big rivalries in all those seasons in seniors?

Not really ? I think everyone you play is a rival. On the court sometimes things can get quite niggly, but after the game everyone has a beer and a chat about it. In terms of someone I really respect, there's Alistair for what's he's done in the last couple of years particularly. It's not easy being a Davis Cup player and playing with a bunch of guys that aren't at your level, and still being supportive and encouraging. What made our win in the final even more satisfying was at the start of the year Alistair was saying, if you and a few other guys can play the games, may be we won't get relegated!

# What's the funniest thing you've seen in tennis?

People have thrown rackets at me, people have abused me ? you have to have a pretty thick skin! It used to be a lot of fun in the old days because there was a bit more in the games. There used to be a lot of sledging then. I remember a guy chucked a match against me once, he hit a first serve that just missed and hit the second over the grandstand. And, 10 or 15 years ago, people have had fights behind the grandstand. You have quite an intense individual playing sometimes, and some guys have gone right off the deep end!