In memory of David Irvine: Guardian tennis correspondent and ‘king of the ad-libbers’ – The Guardian

David Irvine, who has died aged 88 after a long illness, was a born storyteller. He reported for the Guardian for over 27 years, first on northern rugby union and cricket and then, for 20 years, as the tennis correspondent.

He was a craftsman, known as “king of the ad-libbers” on the circuit, for his enviable ability to dictate huge pieces to copytakers off the top of his head. His son Chris, also a journalist, remembers: “He would do 1,200 words on a Wimbledon final without any notes, and that inspiration sharpened his writing. It was his forte, him really enjoying himself, loving what he did, just being an out-and-out journalist of the old school.”

Irvine was born in Kendal in 1935, and was 17 when he joined the Kendal office of the Lancashire Evening Post. He learned at the knee of Harry Griffin, who wrote the Guardian’s Lakeland Diary for 50 years, and soon found himself reporting on Donald Campbell and his record-breaking feats on Coniston and Ullswater in his Bluebird K7 hydroplane.

His sportswriting career properly got under way when, after national service, he joined the Coventry Evening Telegraph as rugby union, cricket and speedway correspondent. His time at the paper coincided with Coventry rugby club’s rise and rise, and in 1969 he landed his “dream job” as the Guardian’s northern rugby union correspondent and cricket writer, based at the Manchester office on Deansgate.

It was in 1976, while on holiday in Spain, that Irvine took a call from the editor, Peter Preston, offering him the role of tennis correspondent, succeeding David Gray. His first of 20 Wimbledons was Virginia Wade’s triumph in 1977, and he would cover more than 70 grand slam events, revelling in the camaraderie of the tennis circuit and rivalry of great players like Björn Borg, John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. He was one of the first to understand the value of stats, his successor as Guardian tennis correspondent, Steve Bierley, remembers an immensely kind man who “was wonderful for digging up small nuggets of stats, long before the days of Google, which nobody else had thought to look for”.

Rarely seen without a cigar or glass of red wine to hand away from the court, he was nicknamed “Noddy” on the circuit for dropping off mid-match at times. He regularly dotted his copy with classical music references, and at the US Open reserved time for nights at Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls. His greatest thrill was meeting the American violinist Isaac Stern and dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

The North of England’s famous victory over the All Blacks at Otley in 1979 gave him the most pleasure to write about, but his favourite sporting memory came not from reporting duty but being at Old Trafford in 1956 to see all 19 of Jim Laker’s wickets against Australia.

After retirement as tennis correspondent in 1996, he continued to freelance for the Guardian and Observer on tennis and rugby union, and later on rugby league for the Times. His love of sport never left him, though the loss of his wife, Eileen, of 45 years to multiple myeloma in 2006 hit him hard. He is survived by his sons Chris and Rob, the latter also a journalist.