GARY COOKE,Comedian, Actor, 44 - Tennis

When did you start playing tennis?

I started in the mid-’70s, aged nine, at Sutton Tennis club.

Why do you like tennis?

I like hitting things. I like hitting balls. It’s quite satisfying. It’s the opposite of golf. Golf is small clubhead, small ball whereas tennis is big racket, big ball. It has a feeling of being doable.

What’s your favourite shot?

A double-handed, back-handed pass down the line, which by default I seem to be able to play quite well if I’m stretching. Usually if you’re stretching, you’re off balance but for some reason even if I’m stretching there’s a certain angle that I know I’m going to make so technically it should probably be very difficult but I can do it quite well. When I’m more technically correct it’s much less good.

Do you play singles or doubles?

I play singles. I don’t really like doubles to be honest. It’s a very good game to play to learn how to play the game. You become a better player if you play doubles, apparently.

What do you dislike about doubles?

You get people serving virtually from the tramline. You never get that in singles because you can’t do that. That kind of thing annoys me. Also if there’s somebody at the net I’m thinking, “If I was playing singles you wouldn’t stand a chance of returning this volley, but because I’ve got to place it away from the other guy too you can kind of get there.”

I tried to blast my way through some woman at the net a while ago, this 25-year-old one. I thought, "Oh, right, some Sex and the Citybimbo with attitude. Let's be havin' you." But she crushed me. The harder I hit the ball the more she just put it away.

Did you play competitively when you were younger?

I wasn’t a particularly good junior at all. I only started playing quite a bit in my 30s, up to that point I was quite erratic even though I liked it – I would play for a while, and then not.

I started playing competitively in tournaments in my club in Fitzwilliam, and also a bit of league. But league tennis is very hard because it’s all about winning, about reducing your mistakes. It’s full of people who don’t like playing an open, hitting game which is what I like. They just like chopping the ball into the weakest parts of your being and they know exactly how to do it. It becomes like work.

Have you won any titles?

I played in the Club Championships, of which I’ve been a finalist and semi-finalist at my level. I put my last semi-final defeat down to fatness. I think I got back to 4-3 and it was my serve in the third set but I was so absolutely shattered at that point that your will even gives up.

Who is your favourite tennis player?

Jimmy Connors. He won three more majors than Boris Becker but he’s been airbrushed a bit out of history, but not my history. I’m totally devoted to him, not in a gay way. I love Rafa (Nadal) and there’s a lovely attitude to him, but Connors, not the best player, but my favourite player.

What was good about Connors?

He had an incredible desire to win. He was a bar-room brawler. He was certainly brought up with a siege mentality by his mother who coached him and by his grandmother, who was a big tennis-head, too.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve seen on court?

I’d say people who play me decide that they’ve seen the most unusual thing on a tennis court. I kind of went through a period of being a bit paranoid about pushing myself too hard on court, thinking I’m going to induce a heart attack.

I’d be taking my pulse rate to see if it was coming down okay while a guy was about to serve and he’d kind of look at me anxiously.

In conversation with Richard Fitzpatrick