Tennis: Health woes can't slow David Hawkes

David Hawkes has been selected into the Over 35 Club by Tennis NZ to commemorate his 36 national titles. Photo/John Borren

Having a hip replacement operation and open heart surgery to replace a damaged heart valve would put an end to playing competitive tennis for most older players.

But David Hawkes is not your average 68-year-old and continues to make his mark on the national seniors circuit.

The Tauranga Lawn player won his 36th national seniors title this summer in the over 65 years mixed doubles, with Tauranga's Sandy Tritt, and he was runner-up in the singles division.

Last week Hawkes was honoured with selection into a special club.

Tennis NZ Seniors commemorates its 40th anniversary this year and has created a special Over 35 Club to recognise players who have won 35 or more national titles. The age of eligibility for seniors is 35 today but it was 45 when Hawkes won his first seniors title in 1992.

Hawkes said he was surprised when he was notified by Tennis NZ.

"I was not expecting it as I didn't know something like this existed," he said. "But looking back I do feel proud to have won that many titles. It's one of those things, when you start off you don't really expect to end up winning that many.

"It is just one match at a time really and the years tick by and all of a sudden you have got 36 titles."

Rating which title was the most memorable was not easy but the win in Hawke's Bay before his heart surgery in October 2012 was special. "I was having trouble breathing and was running out of puff. It stems back to 2004 when I was going to Philadelphia to play in the worlds and I caught a virus from some lady in the plane flaked out next to me. I don't think I ever recovered and I think that is how I damaged my heart valve."

Hawkes had a lifetime playing top provincial tennis, and he also played for New Zealand in the 1970s, so was always going to be successful at senior level. But overcoming the mental challenge of getting back into competitive sport after major heart surgery might well be his greatest achievement.