GERALD (GERRY) WILLIAMS, one of tennis’s most distinguished commentators has died at the age of 86.
Gerry worked for the BBC and Sky TV for more than forty years. Gerry was friend to many of the greats of tennis and he often travelled with the likes of Bjorn Borg on tours. Gerry got his break in commentating on TV when Des Lynam asked him to go over tot TV from radio. Cliff Morgan put Gerry and Des together for the nightly Wimbledon highlights programme, which ran for nine years.
Gerry never saw eye to eye with the bad boys of tennis and said he was happy when the golden age of tennis began with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He said Federer was his champion of champions and he predicted that Andy Murray would win Wimbledon.
Gerry said he was brought up on the commentary of Dan Maskell and that it had never occurred to him that one day he would be sitting in a commentary box with Dan on the centre court at Wimbledon. In an interview with The Herald before his death Gerry said, “Dan was sitting there giving his commentary and I thought you’ve made it here mate.”
Gerry attended Carmarthen Grammar School before going to work for the Croydon Advertiser and befriendng the late great Harry Carpenter. He also worked on the Leicester Mercury and the South Wales Echo.
During his time on the Croydon advertiser as a sports editor he was sent up to Manchester to report on the Busby babes and the rebirth of Manchester United following Munich air crash in February 1958, which had killed 8 of United’s players.
In an interview with The Herald before his death he was asked if he could sum up his life.
He replied: “Simply wildly beyond any dream I could possibly have. When I was in the little village school here in Llangynog during the worse of the blitz it never occurred to me that I could have seen the world umpteen times and become on such good terms with the great tennis players. They are personal friends and that is an amazing thing to have happened.”
Gerald Williams, born June 24 1929, died January 21 2016 – BBC Radio 1973-1983, BBC 1983-1989, Sky Sports 1989-2001
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