Waimon Hendrix is coming up on an important anniversary.
On April 30, Hendrix will celebrate four years of retirement from his job as a job as a contractor at Columbus Air Force Base. Hendrix worked in that capacity for 44 years, 22 in the military and another 22 years as a civilian. He served two tours in Turkey and in numerous places in the United States.
“I joined the Air Force at 22, so what is my favorite number?” Hendrix asked with a smile.
Like many retirees, Hendrix has found something to occupy some of his time. The added bonus is the hours he spends on the courts at Magnolia Tennis Club enable him keep his diabetes in check and to try to keep pace with longtime tennis player and club member James “Coach” Carr, who is 92.
Hendrix will be one of the more than 300 players from more than 35 teams across the state of Mississippi who will compete this weekend in the United States Tennis Association Southern Over 65 State Tennis Tournament at the Magnolia Tennis Club in Columbus. There will be a players’ party from 5:30-7:30 tonight at the Magnolia Tennis Clubhouse. Weather permitting, play will last all weekend.
Hendrix said his wife, Mary, helped ease him into retirement by buying a club membership for him the first year he stopped working. It didn’t take long for Hendrix to pick up with Carr, who asked him if he wanted to hit in the mornings. The men typically hit for an hour four days a week and for an hour Friday afternoons.
The play has helped make tennis a bigger part of Hendrix’s life. He said he has played tennis since 1979, but it was just “fiddling around” because he didn’t have a lo of time to play due to work. Now, though, he said tennis is an “obsession,” which his wife of nearly 27 years allows him. Hendrix said he is thankful for the opportunities to play, even if he isn’t as quick as he used to be. He said his return to tennis wasn’t necessarily “rediscovering” the sport because he had stayed active on the recreational level. Hendrix said he used to hit a lot off a wall at the Columbus Air Force Base, so it took him time to refine his touch to keep the ball in the court. He said Hendrix hopes he is a little better player than he used to be, but he smiled again and said, “No one can testify to that, not even me.”
“The older I get the better I get, I feel,” Hendrix said.
Wearing black knee supports as a precaution and a red wristband on his right wrist, Hendrix said tennis has helped him avoid taking shots for his diabetes. He said it also helps him sleep better. Without any aches and pains, Hendrix hopes to continue to hit with Carr and to keep playing for as long as he can. In Carr, he said he has a great friend and playing partner who has wonderful strokes and helps him enjoy a game that has come to fill a larger part of his life in recent years.
“(Coach Carr) is probably more obsessed than I am probably,” Hendrix said.
When asked to describe how important tennis is to him, he said, “God, family, and tennis really right there. I guess it is third. I used to walk five o six times with my tennis, but now I am too tired. It is a big part of my life. I wouldn’t have imagined it would have become this big a part of my life. It is just hitting ball after ball after ball that does something for you.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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