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tennis poles were brought in directly from
Wimbledon’s dead stock. The dressing room’s
lockers are inch-exact replicas of those found
in the vicinity of the All England Lawn Tennis
Club. And as an ultimate tribute to the sports
tradition, all club members’ on court attire is
required to be a minimum of 80 percent white.
ˆ
All club members’
on court attire is required
to be a minimum of
80 percent white
ˇ
The sense of being in a “club” in its most
traditional of English meaning is emphasiSed
not only by the home-like feel of the bar, lounge,
and hand-painted dining room – which all
have birds-eye views on the courts – but most
importantly by the warmth and kindness of
the ever-present Elseneer family. “When we
took over the club in 1978 it was basically
losing money. There were three secretaries,
two locker room concierges, several cooks, a
butler, a barman, and two waiters. The fixed
costs were astronomical.” Today, apart from
an external cook, they run the club entirely
by themselves and live in a flat right above it.
Gilbert’s many jobs range from handling the
managerial aspect of the club and dispensing
tennis lessons to his life-long clients to cording
rackets in his little in-house shop with utmost
attention. His wife on the other hand manages
the administration and catering. “It is the only
way to make the club financially viable. We
don’t get paid for our managerial and administrative
activities, our salary comes exclusively
from my tennis lessons and my wife’s employee
status. The benefits from the club are directly
invested in maintaining it in its pristine vintage
state. We’re not rich, but we’re not losing
money either,” he concludes.
Indeed, there is little doubt that money is
only secondary to Elseneer’s passion for the
game of tennis and his club, considering he is
virtually sitting on golden eggs that are only
waiting to be latched. Every year he receives
mind-boggling offers from investors and promoters
to buy-out the highly coveted acres the
club is sitting on. And every year the offers
climb. He is well aware that instead of renting
three huge tennis court’s for 10€/hour a piece,
they could easily be replaced by hundreds of
parking spaces that would rack up the cash
pile. But for Gilbert, it is a different story. The
club is his life and he loves it dearly. He sees
Life
the place as a high-quality working tool in the
center of Brussels. A place where he can live
to its fullest his unwavering passion for tennis
and lead a happy life. There are some things
that money cannot buy. And Gilbert, even
though he could be a millionaire, is as happy
as a man can be.
There is however, a hint of nostalgia when
Gilbert speaks of the club’s glory days. It is
true that not many champions can be spotted
running on the courts anymore, nor are any
important tournaments hosted here. But these
let-downs are the inevitable side effects of
the rapid professionalisation that tennis has
undergone in the last 30 years. The Royal
Tennis Club of Belgium was built at a time
when the country’s best players were in fact
amateurs, the tournaments prize-money small
and sponsorships a barely heard-of concept.
While it also used to be the winter club of
choice for many members of the very select
Royal Leopold Club and many other outdoor
33
tennis clubs, the invention and popularisation
of the pressurised bubble also rendered obsolete
the need for an indoor-only club. That is,
the era, when most clients were regulars and
the club part of their social life, has given way
to a more motley fauna composed of locals and
expats which don’t hang around too long after
their three sets.
But the relative decay of the club compared
to its prestigious past does not curb its owner’s
enthusiasm for it by an inch. Even in the most
extreme weather, the pristine courts stay dry,
and the air pure and healthy. And there’s also
this atmosphere kneaded with tradition and
elegance that today can only be found in classy
golf clubs. And when he’ll retire, Gilbert (who
is now 74 years-old), knows he can count on
his son, Gilles, a former tennis world champion
turned professional trainer, to maintain
the club’s magic and unique soul.
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