The best comedy comes from personal experience, which is why Pauline Eyre’s Fringe show about her love-hate relationship with tennis is such a triumph.
The former Wimbledon line judge for 20 years -she stepped down after the 2003 US Open after having twins – could have performed her show in Edinburgh at any time of year, not just during the Fringe, such is the broad appeal of “Anyone For Tennis?”
It went down superbly well in Edinburgh, and I envisage it will be just as well received, if not better, especially among the David Lloyd set all over Britain.
I covered Wimbledon 12 years in a row for a national newspaper which must have been when Eyre was working there, and she is right in suggesting that line judges are invisible until they make the wrong call.
Her show traces her journey from being an aspiring young player, her sisters were better, to becoming a 10-year old umpire, who was, in her words, a real “officious young shit”.
She rose to become the “third best” line judge in the world and team leader at Wimbledon, which meant putting out the chairs and making sure the line judges carried their garish Pierre Cardin jackets over the correct arm.
There were some good stories about the likes of Pat Cash, guilty of invading her personal line-judge space, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras.
What surprised me was that she didn’t mine for comedy effect the fact that England’s Mr Nice, Tim Henman was the first player in the modern era to be disqualified from Wimbledon, back in 1995, for accidentally striking a ball in frustration that hit a ball girl. That must have been her era, and she could get a good five minutes out of that if she was working at the All England Club that day. She might have wanted to bury him rather than praise him on Henman Hill after that.
Andy Murray only got a couple of mentions, too. A few more jokes at his expense would surely have gone down well with a Scottish audience.
Eyre broadens out the show to talk about her personal life, her marriage and why she won’t allow her family to have a dog.
She also delves into her career as a voice-over artist and continuity announcer on the BBC and Channel Five, where she was rather taken by one of the up-and-coming actors in the cast of the Channel Five soap Family Affairs, a certain Idris Elba.
Although Eyre never made the Middlesex tennis team as a youngster, she eventually made the grade when she took up tennis again in her 50s and went on to represent the county at senior level.
She proudly wears her Middlesex team jacket and, frankly, the Rocky theme could be played as she walks back on stage wearing it like a returning hero.
I wasn’t surprised to hear she is taking the show on the road because Anyone For Tennis? has universal appeal. You don’t have to know your deuce from your drop shot to enjoy it.
Eyre has so many stories, a funny bone where her tennis elbow should be, that she would make a cracking chat-show guest when she comes off court for a break.
Game, set and comedy match to Eyre. Simply tremendous fun.
