Having played at Wimbledon as only a slip of a lass way back in 1970, Helen Worland has never lost her love of the sweet sound of a ball on racquet.

Half a century and more after taking part in tennis's greatest tournament, she's about to head off to the Seniors Masters in Crete, with a couple of prestigious invitationals along the way.

The greatest appeal of the sport, she believes, is the range and variety of skills required to be either a top-line player, or even a committed park hacker, for that matter!

"Tennis requires the stamina of a long-distance runner, the speed of a sprinter, the reflexes of a cricketer, the footwork of a boxer, you have to be able to jump like a basketballer, with the temperament and patience of a golfer," Helen observes.

"It entails so many skills and, also, your mindset has gotta be right!" she adds.

Living proof of the lifelong benefits of the sport, as well as the Seniors Masters in October, she is also taking part beforehand in a very select tournament with some of the best older players around and involving one of the most famous tennis brands there is.

"It's in September in Austria and involves 12 American women versus 12 women from the rest of the world; you're only allowed to play one time in it, and you have to be over 75, with sponsorship by the Wilson family.

"I'm then going from there to an international tournament attached to the 'Friendship Cup' and then onto Crete," Helen reveals.

Helen fondly looks back 70 years to a genteel game played in all-whites on suburban courts that is a world away from the glamour, money, and superstar celebrity of modern tennis.

"I'm 76 and I probably started playing when I was seven – you weren't allowed to play younger than that – on a clay court near where I grew up in Canberra," Helen recalls.

"I then moved to Melbourne to be coached, playing against Evonne Goolagong (Cawley) in state," she says of the two-time Wimbledon champion.

In utter contrast to today's industrial-scale development pathways, personal trainers, blanket television coverage, and million-dollar purses and sponsorships, Helen remembers a genteel game from another era.

"I had to go into Toorak to Kooyong (traditional home of the Australian Open). We weren't allowed to play for money at all — we had to sign to that.

"I remember when I got into Wimbledon – I played in the doubles tournament with Helen Kayser – they paid us £25 ($50) for making the main draw. That was the only money we ever got; I then came home in 1970 and got married," Helen reveals.

She still remembers the golden age of Australian tennis, when players like John Newcombe, "Rocket" Rod Laver, and Roy Emerson dominated the game, before the huge funding of the American college system took over.

One home-grown legend, however, still stands out in her mind as the greatest female player ever; someone who dominated the game before all the coaching experts, fitness trainers, travelling psychologists, and player managers, who pander to modern players' every need, became the norm.

"Margaret Court, she was the best woman player, I believe, better than anyone I've ever seen before or since.

"She's a lovely person, too, done so much for the sport, and for people outside the game as well."

Tennis may have changed over the decades, but this has not dimmed Helen's lifelong love of the sport.

"We used to travel by ourselves or with our doubles partner; we'd just go to the tournament and walk onto court with one racket, not whole bags of stuff," Helen says.

"I'm still playing against people I saw at Wimbledon on the seniors circuit; it's a game for life!"