It may only be mid-morning when Peter Pokorny sits down at his Graz home for a chat to discuss his life in tennis, but the 79-year-old has already been on-court at his tennis centre for a hit.

“I practice for an hour and a half every day: a little warm-up before hitting from the baseline, then cross-court and working on my serve – I need to work on my serve,” Pokorny tells itftennis.com.

“I want to improve. I am still trying to copy the best players and improve my strokes. If you don’t try to get better then you get worse and you’re not in the game anymore.”

Perhaps such dedication is the reason why Pokorny has carved out a reputation as the most fearsome opponent on the ITF Seniors circuit, with the Austrian enjoying huge success in recent decades.

The left-hander has 12 World Team and as many World Individual titles to his name, and currently occupies the world No.1 ranking in singles, while until recently he did so in doubles, in the Men's 75 age category. In other words, he is a serial winner.

“I have a place where I put all these medals,” said Pokorny. “I have a room in my tennis centre, my old changing area where I have my clothes. I have a golf club – a driver – on the wall and I hang all these medals from this driver.”

Pokorny’s exploits, which have seen him chalk up 900 seniors match wins in singles alone, resulted in him joining an exclusive club of just three other players when handed the ITF Award for Outstanding Achievement in Seniors Tennis in July.

His name is now forever etched into seniors folklore, along with Canada’s Lorne Main, Heide Orth of Germany and American King van Nostrand, although it is a journey which started in humble fashion shortly after the end of World War II.

“I started playing tennis in 1947 when I was six or seven because I was brought up next to a tennis court and I used to pick up balls. From this moment, my life has been tennis,” added father-of-two Pokorny.

“After a while, with the money that I earned from picking up the balls, my mother went to a shop to get a racquet for me. That’s how I started tennis and I have never stopped since.

“I couldn’t afford to pay money for tennis lessons, so I just watched and copied what was going on at the club near my house. Watch and copy – that’s what I did.

“There was then a big tournament in Graz and I saw some of the great Czech players, such as Jiri Javorsky, and fellow Austrian Hans Redl, who lost an arm during the war. These players inspired me.”

By the age of 12, Pokorny had earned himself a spot in the Austrian Under-18 team, while two years later he reached the final of the Austrian Championships. He was later crowned national Under-18 champion.

He would go on to win the Austrian Championships three times as an adult and make his Davis Cup debut for Austria in 1963, playing 14 ties across the next 11 seasons.

Pokorny established himself as one of Europe’s finest indoor players, winning the Indoor Championships in Bremen in 1973 – surprising given the lack of access to such facilities growing up.

“It was only when I spent four years in Germany from the late 1960s that I could play tennis all-year round. We didn’t used to have indoor courts and just played outdoors until September or October,” said Pokorny.

“There were times we played on ice skating rinks. Indoors, we had a net and one guy could volley and the other practice ground strokes. It was difficult at times.”

Factor in appearances in the main draw at Wimbledon and Roland Garros and it adds up to a lifetime of memories, with his greatest centring on more than just tennis.

“The travelling is what I remember most and what I still enjoy,” added Pokorny, who captained the Austrian Davis Cup team in 1981-82. “At that time is was not so easy to travel.

“In 1964, I went to the US Open [qualifying]. All the European players went to Amsterdam and were put on one plane which flew us to New York. It was a great experience, my first overseas trip.”

There have, of course, been some golden on-court memories. “Wimbledon is not my favourite surface – grass is for grazing cows. But Sonja Pachta and I played Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors in the 1974 mixed doubles. We lost but it went to three sets. It was a great experience.

“Davis Cup was fantastic also. We beat Great Britain in Edinburgh in 1970 which is a tremendous recollection.”

In 1986, despite initial reservations – on first inspection he admits to thinking: “it’s for old people” – a brave new world presented itself to Pokorny in the form of the ITF Seniors circuit. The good times have rolled ever since.

Pokorny has travelled the world, lifted silverware on a regular basis and shows no sign of losing his love for a sport which has played such a pivotal role in his life. He is already eyeing a fresh challenge; next year he advances to a new age bracket, Men's 80.

“When it all began, I never foresaw playing at the age that I am, but now I cannot imagine life without tennis,” said Pokorny, who made a living from tennis after building and managing his own tennis centre in Graz.

“When I was young, I don’t think it was possible for people aged 70 to play tennis, but now they can, people are in much better shape than in the 1960s and 1970s.

“I just want to play for as long as I can. As long as my body works and I can run, I will compete. To live in the past is not good, to live for the future is much better.”