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Articles concerning sport are among the most popular You & Yesterday items. Although football and cricket predominate, we aim to cover as many different sports as possible. Here Peter Seddon - author of the book Tennis's Strangest Matches - gives an introductory overview to our ever-growing archive of lawn tennis stories with a Derbyshire slant.

The Pavilion Gardens in Buxton in the late 1880s - this Francis Frith photograph shows 'ladies at tennis', one of the earliest images of the game in Derbyshire

Here is the bad news - Lawn Tennis was not invented in Derbyshire. Nor has any Derbyshire-born player ever won a singles tournament categorised as a 'major'. No competitions of international or even national significance are currently hosted by the county. And tennis glamour girl Maria Sharapova has decided against making Swadlincote her winter training base.

But do not despair. Here at You & Yesterday we seek out the stories which others may have missed. To that end we are gradually building up a gallery of articles which feature the 'strawberries and cream' game in all its glory - and each with a distinct and sometimes wholly unexpected Derbyshire flavour.

First a potted history. Lawn Tennis is quite a young game in the scheme of things. Although its precise origins remain the subject of some debate, it was essentially an 'invented' game which first began to take a familiar shape in the 1860s. It soon became rather a 'craze', and the world's first ever tennis club was formed in Leamington Spa in 1872. In no time at all lawn tennis became a 'sport' rather than a simple 'pastime' - and the now world-famous Wimbledon tournament began in 1877.

Although documentary and photographic evidence is scant, tennis would undoubtedly have been played in Derbyshire almost 'from the beginning', and certainly the spa town of Buxton was an important early hotbed in competitive tennis circles. The tournament inaugurated there in the 1880s attracted all the leading players.

Initially the order of the day was private tennis courts in the gardens of large houses - public courts were provided in the course of time only gradually. The first public court in Derby, for example, was laid out in the Arboretum in 1892, the year in which the photographer Richard Keene recorded the scene for posterity.

Of course Wimbledon is the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world - so we must pay immediate homage to the 1887 Mens' Singles Champion Herbert Fortescue Lawford, whose Derbyshire education at Repton School evidently equipped him splendidly for the task ahead.

Another Old Reptonian never managed to win Wimbledon but was twice a gallant loser - in the Gentlemens' Singles final in both 1932 and 1938. He was H. W. 'Bunny' Austin, whose greatest claim to fame was as a member of Great Britain's very successful Davis Cup team in the celebrated 'Fred Perry era' of the 1930s.

Other players with Derbyshire links have also performed at Wimbledon over the years - most of the names are entirely unfamiliar now, but their achievement in simply 'getting there' can never be denied them. Here is a roll of honour.

In the 1920s three Derbyshire-born men appeared in the Gentlemens' Doubles - I. H. 'Laddie' Wheatcroft, J. S. Fletcher and L. West.

Among the ladies from the pre-war era the name of Derby girl Miss S. F. 'Topsy' Ford (later 'Topsy' Smith) looms large - in 1936 she became the first Derbeian ever to win a Wimbledon trophy when she secured the Ladies' Plate title, a competition for first and second round losers. Much later - in 1963 - she became Derbyshire county captain, and exerted a tremendous influence on the development of tennis in Derby and district.

In the immediate post-war era D. H. 'Dennis' Slack and the Repton schoolmaster Reverend D. C. 'Douglas' Argyle both experienced the leafy confines of Wimbledon, but it was the 1950s which provided renewed activity on a broader scale.

Of course not all the Derbyshire competitors remembered their appearances with undying affection. After nineteen-year-old Derby girl Pat Hird crashed out of the Ladies Singles in 1954, she complained bitterly that the umpiring was the worst she had ever known - she told the Derby Telegraph: 'I got so angry I simply went to pieces'.

Faring rather better was Heanor's left-hander Helen Fletcher, whose appearance on the 'Holy Lawn' known as Centre Court in 1951 gave her the confidence to go further than any Derbyshire lady in the game's history. In 1953 she reached the semi-finals of the Ladies Doubles - where she and her partner Mrs. Rinkel-Quartier were defeated 6-0, 6-0.

Nevertheless, a year later she reached the last eight of the singles, and was rewarded for her efforts by a place in Britain's 1954 Wightman Cup team.

Derbyshire's Pauline Drew (later Mrs. White), Monica Gell (Mrs. Robinson) and Honor Durose (Mrs. Incorvaja) also competed at the home of tennis in the 1950s.

There were Derbyshire men from that same era too. J. R. 'Ron' Statham and Jack Moore played together in the Doubles, and Duffield's 17-year-old prodigy J. I. 'Jimmy' Tattersall gained the singular honour of winning Junior Wimbledon in 1957.

One name from the 1950s stands out - that is Ripley-born Tony Pickard. He was a regular at Wimbledon in the 1950s through to the 1960s, and a well-known Davis Cup player too. He remains the only Derbyshire-born tennis player with a worldwide reputation, for he later gained considerable fame as coach and mentor to Stefan Edberg, helping the Swede towards the coveted Wimbledon title in 1988. Pickard later coached Greg Rusedski - alas not with the same outcome.

Following Pickard was Andrew Jarrett - a Wimbledon regular during the 1970s and 1980s - and another Davis Cup player. Jarrett retained an interest in the game after he finished playing - at the time of writing he occupies one of the hottest seats in world sport - Tournament Referee at the Wimbledon Championships.

Other Derbyshire names in the Wimbledon annals are Risley-born Nick Fulwood - winner of the over 35's Doubles in 2000, and on the administrative side the Derby solicitor W. L. P. 'Leslie' Woolley, who was a member of the very influential Championship Committee in 1965.

Some Derbyshire links one might never think of - but they are important ones all the same.

For example the pristine Wimbledon grass was for countless years immaculately trimmed by Qualcast lawnmowers 'Made in Derby'.

And what about Patrik Lafferty, one-time head of catering at Ilkeston's Royal Regency Banqueting Suite? In 1986 he was entrusted by the Wimbledon hierarchy to take complete control of the prestigious members' enclosure catering - no small task, for it entailed serving 30,000 meals in a single fortnight to a demanding clientele expecting 'nothing but the best'. He must have pulled it off, for 15 years later he was still engaged in the same role.

Nor must we forget Buxton Mineral Water, since 2001 the 'official mineral water' to the Wimbledon tournament.

And that is not Wimbledon's only link with the Derbyshire town of Buxton - in fact there are several more - curiosities which are outlined in one of our most unusual 'Stories Behind The Pictures' articles featuring the French superstar Amelie Mauresmo.

Will Derbyshire produce a Wimbledon singles champion in the future? Considering British performances in both the mens' and ladies' tournaments in 'modern times' it would be an absolute sensation if ever it happened!

Meanwhile we must live on memories alone - so here is a rundown of You & Yesterday articles relating directly or indirectly to the time-honoured game of tennis:

Stanley, Arthur - Please Don't Bury Me Alive!

Austin, Henry Wilfred 'Bunny' - A Lawn Tennis Great

Clarke, Yasmin - Rising Tennis Star

Jarrett, Andrew - A Centre Court Star

Lawford, Herbert - Wimbledon Champ and Tennis Pioneer

Tattersall, Jimmy - World Number One at Tennis

Tennis - Allestree Woodlands Tennis Club

Tennis - Erratics Lawn Tennis Club

Tennis - Littleover Tennis Club

Tennis Star Amelie Mauresmo - Picture Reveals All

Fletcher, Helen - Derbyshire's 'Best Ever' Lady Tennis Player?

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