Wimbledon comes to Mayberry

Mayberry tennis players celebrated the annual arrival of the Wimbledon Championships by hosting their own prestigious event on June 29.

Local tennis coach George Kriek organized Wimbledon Day to celebrate the world’s oldest tennis tournament in a fun and memorable way. Participants gathered at Mount Airy High School to play the old-fashioned way by using wooden and aluminum rackets, the former of which was used at Wimbledon for more than a century.

Kriek moved to the United States from South Africa in 1985. Using the skills he acquired growing up in a family full of tennis players, Kriek immediately began coaching the sport in Florida. He helped put on the first Wimbledon Day later that year.

“Everybody was doing the same clinics, so I said to the Director of Tennis, ‘What if, just before the big four events — Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open — we have our own events,’” Kriek said. “I found that Wimbledon Day was the most fun because people had to bring their own wooden and aluminum rackets. It’s a challenge to play with those, but people really enjoy it.

“Just trying to find those rackets became a fun challenge as years went on.”

Kriek called playing with a wooden racket, “a grind,” when compared to using the graphite and composite rackets used by modern players.

“It’s heavy; it’s like playing with a 2-by-4,” Kriek said. “You can’t hit the ball as hard so there are more rallies, and the points are longer. When you mix people around you can actually play with all kinds of levels of players too. You’re on a more level playing field. It’s a different ball game, even with the aluminum rackets.

“When you give a wooden racket to a person who’s never played with one, they really appreciate it when they pick up their real racket. They enjoyed it, but it is one heck of a challenge.”

In addition to competing with alternative rackets, Kriek said some players dress in all white to match the Wimbledon dress code.

“It’s too bad I couldn’t find any white tennis balls,” he joked.

Kriek brought Wimbledon Day to the Tar Heel State in the mid-2000s. He held the event for eight years while working at Cross Creek Country Club and often had more than 30 participants.

Since leaving Cross Creek, Kriek has continued coaching on an individual level in both North Carolina and at his brother’s academy in Florida. He also helped put on numerous Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) events. Those events, including Wimbledon Day, slowed down when Covid hit, and he just recently made the decision to bring some of them back.

“I thought about bringing it back but didn’t really advertise it because I didn’t think we would be here during Wimbledon,” Kriek said. The 2024 Wimbledon Championships began June 24 and will conclude in mid-July.

“We put this last-minute thing together and it was fun, so next year I’m going to try and get the word out probably two months in advance. I knew we had to start small, but people talk and before you know it your numbers double.”

Kriek said most of this year’s participants have taken lessons from him. The youngest members of the group are in middle school or entering high school, while the oldest are in their 70s.

Wimbledon Day is not the Kriek family’s only link to the prestigious tournament. George’s brother, Johan, competed at Wimbledon 13 times between 1978-91, highlighted by back-to-back appearances in the quarterfinals in 1981-82.