the cobham experience!

INCLUDING: An interview with Georgiy, unbelievable breaking news from Cobham Tennis Club, and team pictures dating back to 1998 which can be found at the end!

Cobham Tennis Club is a small – very small – tennis club located in the outer reaches of Cobham Rugby Club, not too far from Reed’s School. Tucked away in the corner of the rugby premises are three asphalt hard courts, 2 of which were originally laid down over 40 years ago, with the third added around 15 years ago. The membership of the club has dwindled over the years, though that would suggest there once used to be lots of members which wouldn’t be entirely accurate! The club peaked at the start of the century with membership hitting 100-110, but with active playing members now fewer than 50, it’s back to where it was in the late 80’s and 90’s.

But amidst the declining interest in playing tennis at Cobham, one thing that has survived intact is the Men’s First Team’s participation in the Surrey Winter and Summer Men’s Doubles leagues. Nick Wheatley, head coach at the Hawker YMCA in Ham, has captained the first team for almost 25 years. Nick was there when the first team started down in the bowels of the competition, and remembers “I played my first match for Cobham in 1994, under the captaincy of Ian Pullin, a Cobham stalwart who had taken me under his wing once he saw my passion for playing and improving". By 1999, Cobham had risen to the ‘not so’ incredible heights of Division U in ‘Surrey West’ (Division 23 in new money), and Nick then took over the captaincy of the team in 2001. 

Gradually over the years, under Nick’s stewardship, the first team has fought their way up to as high as Division 5.

Having moved away from the local area, Nick continued to captain the Cobham team due to the great camaraderie between the team members. Nick recalls “Back at the turn of the century, post-match get togethers could sometimes last into the early hours of Monday morning! Back then, the format was always best of 3 full sets (rather than the champions tie-break we now have at one set all), and matches could last 5 hours, yet as a minimum there was always time for post-match drinks amongst the two clubs, and sometimes snacks and a meal thrown in". 

Nick continued "you must remember that 25 years ago, the internet was in its infancy, and smart phones and social media were still years away. This all meant that people actually had free time on Sunday’s!” The tradition lives on, but these days there are always a few people who ‘have to go’, and sometimes there is no post-match socialising at all.

Raising a team for matches hasn’t always been straight forward, and as Cobham rose up the leagues it was a struggle maintaining enough players of the right level. Nick persevered, and at the start of the 10’s, the Cobham line-up often had a mixture of young and old in many team selections, with the likes of Mike Bacon and his impressively good son Tom, as well as the Cobham legend that is Chris Hine, famous for making very lengthy drinks orders at the bar after matches!

As the 10’s progressed, the young/old mix in the Cobham teams continued but with one marked difference; no-one who played for us lived anywhere near Cobham! In fact, the only time any team players played at the club was for home matches. It was a case of adapt or die for Captain Nick, as legit Cobham members who were good enough for our loftier position in the leagues became scarce and then extinct. 

The adaption came in the form of Nick’s ever improving squads of junior players at Hawker, and it was a perfect match, as the experience of Men’s tennis was highly valuable to their progress. A special ‘match only’ membership for £15 per year was set-up by the awesome Cobham committee!

Mike Derks, a first team regular over the past decade, notes that “with such a small club, recruitment for the first team is key. Over recent years, Nick has blooded some of the juniors he coaches, with some very positive results. Both Tristan Scurr and Georgiy Lesyuk, now attending universities in the West Country, have played regularly for Cobham in the last few years, during a time when Cobham has won many divisional titles, and they were even often happy to come back from Uni to play for the team.”

Georgiy was approached for comment about his participation for Cobham. He said “Cobham? Is that the club we do the tennis for? I’m literally there just for the meet-up at Spoons after!”. 

During last year’s Winter League, 13 year old Oliver Scott played numerous matches with the fresh-faced steely 63 year-old veteran Mike Derks. There would likely be very few instances in the upper echelons of the Wilson Surrey Leagues where the age differential between a doubles pair was 50 years!

Harry and Owen were the first Hawker juniors to turn out for the team, followed by Moritz and Joseph, and then came the era of Tristan and Georgiy, with James, Lucca, Oliver, Nicho, Jeremy, and Joshua (Mike’s son) also all representing Cobham. Even our legendary former coach Jeremy turned out for Cobham a few times, gracing courts around Surrey with his hotdogs. 

Mike Derks suggests one of the reasons for Cobham’s rise up the leagues is the considerable home court advantage. “The courts are extremely slow and very high bouncing - small pellets often greet the opposition once the ball strikes the surface. After roughly half an hour, the balls are almost completely bald, accentuating the high bounce”. The sun is also a huge factor, as the courts face southeast. “We do not play well at home, it is just that our opponents play worse”, claims Mike. 

Indeed, some of Cobham’s opponents, aware of the parlous state of the courts, often ask whether Cobham would prefer to play home matches away. The reply is often ‘yes’, especially if either St George’s Hill or RAC offer to throw in an afternoon tea or there is the prospect of playing on the grass (or both)!  

The courts also invariably flood when there has been heavy rain, because the water table rises up and spreads over them, well court 3 at least. The result is an intermittent film of moss and algae, which can prove treacherous under foot for those with the wrong shoes. 

However, the breaking news is that the Cobham courts have just been re-surfaced this month (April 2025). Nick reacted to the news “What? I can’t believe it, it’s going to take 30 years for the courts to get back to how we’re used to, I’ll be in my 70’s!”

Mike concludes that “One of the abiding features of playing for Cobham is the team camaraderie. The limited squad of players all enjoy partnering each other, and despite the significant age gap between team members, often go out for a drink after matches. Club politics does not exist here – all play for the joy of competing. Win or lose, the camaraderie remains unaltered”.