Even in Vero Beach, where tennis directors tend to stay at their clubs longer than their peers in other places, Tom Fish’s 30 years at Windsor is something to celebrate.
And he plans to.
“We’re going to have a dinner with my tennis staff friends,” Fish said last week as his Aug. 1 anniversary approached.
You’ll notice he used the word “friends” to describe his on-court assistants and tennis shop attendants – because that’s how Fish sees everyone at Windsor, where he’s never been merely an employee.
Fish, who will turn 69 on Sept. 1, is a beloved member of the Windsor family created by the island community’s founder, Canadian billionaire W. Galen Weston, who hired him during the summer of 1991 to oversee the construction of the 470-acre enclave’s tennis complex and then run it.
Little did he know at the time that Weston, who was 80 when he died in April, had handed him what would become one of the best teaching-pro jobs in America.
“The courts weren’t built yet,” Fish recalled. “All we had was a trailer and a plan. I think there were only six houses built. But it turned out to be the opportunity of a lifetime.
“Getting this job was a blessing.”
Fish confessed that, when he accepted the position, he didn’t understand Weston’s village-by-the-sea vision for Windsor, which has achieved international acclaim and attracted politicians, celebrities, dignitaries and even royalty – as much for its security and discretion as its distinguished architecture and luxurious amenities.
“I knew it was going to be something special with the golf course and polo, but I didn’t really get the village concept,” he said. “At that point, though, it didn’t really matter.”
He needed the job.
Fish, who previously worked at John’s Island, Riomar and Grand Harbor, was the tennis director at the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club, which was failing financially – so much so that the ownership closed both the golf course and tennis courts, putting him and other employees out of work.
Fish and his wife, Sally, had a mortgage to pay on their Central Beach home and were raising two children at the time – 9-year-old son, Mardy, and 8-year-old daughter, Meredith.
“It was a little scary for a while,” Fish said. “I had to do something.”
He called Windsor.
“I had helped build the courts at Grand Harbor and Orchid Island, so I thought that might give me an in with Windsor, because they were getting ready to build their courts,” Fish said.
“I asked if they were close to hiring someone for their tennis job, and they said they were.”
Shortly afterward, Weston invited him to lunch.
“It didn’t feel like a job interview, but that’s what it turned into,” Fish said. “We had a nice chat over some really good food, and he hired me. That one lunch changed the path of my life and, really, my family’s lives, too.”
He described Weston as a “great boss, wise mentor and wonderful man,” but Windsor’s founder also was a generous benefactor who, along with others in the posh community, contributed much of the money Fish’s son needed to launch his tennis career.
“Developing a world-class tennis player is expensive, and the Windsor members were there for us,” Fish said. “I owe them a lot for that because, without their help, I don’t know if Mardy would’ve made it.”
With their help, Fish’s son played his way onto the ATP Tour and into the top-10 in the world rankings before retiring in 2015, having reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open.
He was the silver medalist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and currently serves as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team. In 2007, he created the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation to provide fitness and nutrition programs for underserved local youths.
The elder Fish has managed or overseen the foundation’s operations – including an annual men’s minor-league pro tennis tournament – since its inception.
“I’m still very active with the foundation,” Fish said. “It’s a lot of work, especially the fundraising with our golf outing and tennis tournament, but we’re trying to do something positive for the kids in our community.”
His day job, though, is at Windsor, where the once-fledgling community has grown to 350 homes – as well as a village store, post office, real-estate office, amphitheater, town hall, gallery, croquet lawn and popular tennis complex.
That popularity means Fish and his staff are not only teaching, especially during the busy winter season, but also organizing round-robin events and other tennis activities.
“Windsor has a great golf course, and golf has become very popular,” Fish said. “But tennis is a big deal here, and we have a lot of programs.”
During non-COVID off-seasons, in fact, members often welcomed Fish to their summer homes to teach, organize tennis events or simply play with them. His business trips have taken him to Canada, England and Greece.
More than once, Weston and his wife, Hilary, invited Fish to play tennis with them on the grass courts of Fort Belvedere, their 100-acre estate best known as the one-time home of King Edward VIII. They also brought Fish to Wimbledon with them.
“Not a bad way to make a living,” said Fish, a Minnesota native who moved to Vero Beach in 1986, when he became an assistant pro at John’s Island, hired by longtime local tennis director Mike Rahaley.
Fish said he was working a summer gig at a club in the North Carolina mountains when a few of the members told him they belonged to John’s Island and spoke to Rahaley on his behalf.
There was no way he could turn down the job – for more reasons than one.
“My wife made me move,” Fish said. “I was a happy Minnesotan. I didn’t know any better; I didn’t know this existed. But Sally grew up in California, where the winters aren’t nearly as cold as they are in Minnesota, and she said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here.’
“So, I took the job at John’s Island, and I learned a ton from Mike about running a club,” he added. “I certainly wouldn’t have been as successful without Mike’s help.”
Five years later, he was at Windsor, where he’s now the reigning dean of local tennis directors.
In recent years, Fish has made some concessions to age, limiting his time on the court to six hours a day – at his wife’s request – and allowing his assistants to do more. But he’s not ready to retire.
“I think more about slowing down, but not stopping,” said Fish, who, like many tennis pros, is an avid golfer in his spare time. “I get so much pleasure out of what I do. People come to me to have fun. I’d like to continue teaching.”
He’d also like to start playing tennis competitively again in age-group tournaments, and participate in more local-pro exhibitions, most of which were canceled last winter because of the COVID pandemic.
“It’s fun to compete,” Fish said. “Next year, I’ll be 70, so I’ll be the baby in the 70-and-over division. That’s a bigger advantage as you get older.”
Fish doesn’t know how long he’ll continue to work, or how long Windsor will want him to stay on board, but his son is now a member – even though he lives in Los Angeles.
“Windsor has been a very special place for our family,” Mardy Fish said. “Not only did Mr. Weston give my father the best teaching job in the country, but they also welcomed our entire family with open arms.
“I learned how to play tennis and golf there and met members that we will be friends with for life,” he added. “Never once has it felt like we were workers there. Just part of a family.”
Even in Vero Beach, that’s something to celebrate.
