Due to the deterioration of his hearing, King Van Nostrand prefers chatting over e-mail these days. He is known for being warm and engaging and those qualities are apparent even in cyberspace. The only problem, however, is competition.

“My responses to you will have to be sporadic at best as Boots [his wife of 66 years] and I share a computer,” he says.

“Since her retirement from tennis eight or nine years ago, she has become a world-class bridge player with seemingly endless virtual tournaments subject to international time zones. I get on when I can.”

True to his word, as the opening week of Wimbledon unfolds, replies from the 87-year-old arrive intermittently, but it is the little extras within his answers which inform, help paint a picture and certainly entertain.

“I see Andy’s up a set on Basilashvili, rooting for him with his new hip…sorry, couldn’t connect yesterday, had too many commitments and not enough arms, legs and hours to fulfil them…where are the days of Dan Maskell’s marvellously succinct commentary?”

Once merged, leafing through Van Nostrand’s near 3000 words of insight, opinion and reminiscences is a privilege. The main questions, however, are how to do justice to his utterances and, more pressingly, where to start?

He is clearly a man who lives and breathes tennis and has done so ever since he fell in love with the game back in 1940s America while growing up on Long Island, New York.

So much has been written and spoken about this revered octogenarian that it seems fitting to open with the future and what more he wishes to achieve from a life already brimming with memories, medals and accolades.

“This is a tap-in putt,” said Van Nostrand. “Only recently, I mentioned again my overused lament that before I die, I would like to hit one winning top-spin lob."

The remainder of the article, which first appeared in the summer edition of ITFWorld, can be read here.