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There was an English player who finished up the number one player in England and was one of the hansom eights, the professionals that.... the first group of professionals – Roger Taylor was his name.

Above: Roger Taylor defeats Rod Laver at Wimbledon 1970
Source: Virgin Media

He was a lovely man and a terrific player. And I first saw roger when I was 16 and travelling the world and trying... trying to perfect his skill. And... Roger came down to Havant to play in the tournament there, and I was always an observer of the game. I loved playing and I loved observing it. And I was there one day and Roger Taylor wasn’t playing but he was practicing. And he went on the wall there and he was practicing against the wall. And I’ve never seen a demonstration of somebody using the wall better than Roger Taylor. And this was when he was 16 and his work ratio and everything... and his understanding of the deviation of the ball was fantastic – he was terrific.

And when Marcus George (the boy who I had to tell to come off the wall at Millfield because he needed someone to talk to him) he used the wall brilliantly as well. You see.
So, I know that a wall, even a wall, can be of tremendous value to a player.

Well it’s the simplest as well.
And that’s the lowest form of ball machine.

Well, it’s simple, but at the same time you don’t have to go around picking up balls.

No... you see... it really relates to the fact that they were using the wall and they got all the exercise they wanted.

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