“You never know, in 10 years’ time I could be umpiring a men’s singles semi-final at Wimbledon.”

Those are the words of Simon Corbishley who last year was named official of the year by Gloucestershire Lawn Tennis Association.

It’s important to say at this stage that Corbishley isn’t currently a tennis umpire, he was just thinking out loud when he was considering his career options in a sport he has been heavily involved in for many years now.

He also said that being a line judge was a possibility but it’s equally important to say that 44-year-old Corbishley is very happy with what he’s doing now.

“I’m a tournament director and referee, I’m a tennis coach and I also re-string rackets,” he said.

It’s for his role as a tournament director and referee that he earned his title of official of the year and it’s something that he very much enjoys.

“I’m backstage making sure that things happen in the way they should happen,” he said.

He spent 35 days last year in the role, running tournaments at East Gloucestershire Club in Cheltenham and at Pershore Tennis Centre.

And they are pretty decent events too.

“In ApriI I ran the Cheltenham Open,” he said. “That’s the biggest in Gloucestershire in terms of the numbers participating.

“There are about 400 entries and the tournament takes in 23 different events. The youngest competitor was seven and the oldest was 53.

“It’s a tournament that’s being going since the 1920s so it’s got a lot of history.

“It’s attracted people like Tim Henman and Heather Watson in the past – it’s got a really good heritage.

“And they’re still attracting 400 competitors so they must be doing something right!”

Corbishley also ran the Gloucestershire Championships in August – they were also held at East Glos.

“That’s just for Gloucestershire players and the youngest was seven and the oldest 64 so there was a real spread of ages,” he said.

Corbishley is clearly very good at his job, so how did he get into tournament refereeing?

“I joined East Glos as a coach in 2003,” he explained. “Two or three years later, the previous tournament director decided to give up the role and he asked me if I wanted to do it.

“I shadowed him in 2007 and then I took it on and it’s gradually increased from there.”

Corbishley enjoys the variety that his tennis work gives him.

“At the moment it works well, the reffing, the coaching, the re-stringing,” he said, “but I could go further with my refereeing. If I wanted to do regional or national tournaments I could do the next level of qualifications.

“That’s something that is available to me and that’s something I could do as I age and my body creaks!

“A lot of people progress into umpiring, maybe I’ll pop up as an umpire of a men’s singles semi-final at Wimbledon.”

Whatever the future holds, it’s clear that tennis will remain a huge part of Corbishley’s life.

He’s been a big fan of the sport since a young age when he was growing up just over the county border in Worcestershire.

“I was a county age group player,” he said. “I was okay but I knew that was the level of my ability. Luckily I found ways of staying in tennis.”

And that learning process took place while he was at Birmingham University studying for a sports science degree, although the lecturers back in the day can’t claim the credit for pushing him towards a sport that remains incredibly popular today.

“Every summer holidays, instead of getting a job I used to go to America and I worked in tennis,” he said. “I was based at a club near Los Angeles and I’d give lessons, do racket re-stringing and run tournaments.”

Corbishley would be out there for the whole summer, so even though he qualified to become a teacher post-university it was no surprise that he should end up making a career in tennis.

And while he has certainly benefitted from the knowledge he gained in California in the 1990s, tennis has also benefitted from his long-term involvement.

So much so that there was no real surprise when he was named official of the year by Gloucestershire LTA although Corbishley says it wasn’t something he was expecting.

“I was at the awards evening to present some of the prizes,” he said, “so I was a bit surprised. But I was thrilled too, it’s always good to get a pat on the back.”