Roger Day writes:

Tennis has been a life-long love. My brother played the game and took me to Margate Lawn Tennis Club where I joined the junior players and started playing to a decent standard.

I’d play every weekend; and long summer days and evenings were dominated by my passion.  Over time, I rose to a standard where I could even beat players older than me, so I entered tournaments and even graduated to a semi-final on one occasion. I recall the club coach even volunteered to give me lessons as he seemed to see some potential.

Then I left school – and you know the score in teenage years!  My obsession shifted from tennis to pop music - and girls. I’d missed my chance to become a Wimbledon champion.

My DJ career was going well, leading me on to the pirate radio ships – and tennis on a small boat would have been a challenge.

When I returned home, I moved to Surrey and joined New Malden Tennis Club which boasted all-weather courts and floodlights so I could take up my old sport once more and play all year round.

On then moving to Manchester, as I began presenting the good old Piccadilly Radio, it was disappointing to find few all-weather courts at the time.  A friend, however, suggested I should try squash. The early appeal to me was limited as the game just seemed to about be hitting a ball against a wall with no skill required - but after playing just one game, I was hooked.

As with tennis, I actually achieved a reasonable squash standard, being selected for a team and I even won a tournament. But my squash ended ten years ago on having a hip replacement.  The surgeon’s eyebrows raised when I mentioned it.

So, it was back to tennis - which I still play and enjoy to this day over here in Spain.

And, as a keepsake, I still have my wooden Slazenger racket.

Roger