Longtime Costa Mesa Tennis Center operator Hank Lloyd announces his retirement

One of the most influential names in Orange County tennis said he is retiring.

Hank Lloyd, who owned several tennis shops and has operated the Costa Mesa Tennis Center since 1998, said he will end his lease with the city of Costa Mesa effective Feb. 28.

Lloyd said he and his wife of 42 years, Maureen, who helps him run the center, plan to enjoy retirement sharing activities with their family, which includes three grandchildren.

“It’s that time where you want to spend some special time with them,” said Lloyd, who lives in Yorba Linda.

He posted a letter announcing his retirement on the center’s Facebook page on Monday, and the tributes started pouring in.

Lloyd, 72, has been a longtime local fixture in coaching. A former Sunny Hills High and San Jose State standout, he was the head pro at Anaheim Hills Racquet Club for six years in the 1970s. He also started five Hank Lloyd’s Tennis retail shops with his late father-in-law, Tim Brunet. The first store was opened in Anaheim in 1983 and other locations followed, in Tustin, Capistrano Beach, Costa Mesa and Encinitas.

The other locations are now closed, though Lloyd still runs a pro shop out of the Costa Mesa Tennis Center.

He coached many of the top young American tennis players over the years, as the site has been a Southern California Tennis Assn. Competition Training Center for top 14-and-under players.

“A lot of the kids in south Orange County have come through here one way or another, as far as playing, tournament-wise, the programs we’ve run,” he said. “It’s always been a very unique setting with really good quality pros. It’s been generation to generation, which has been really special. We’ve got a great tennis family here at Costa Mesa.”

Lloyd also brought pro tennis to Costa Mesa through a Pro Futures tournament, from 2002 through 2018. Top American players such as Taylor Fritz, Taylor Dent, Sam Querrey, Stevie Johnson and Max Cressey played in the Futures tournament over the years. Fritz and Cressey both had good runs at the Australian Open this week before losing in the fourth round.

Hank Lloyd stands with wife Maureen in front of the Costa Mesa Tennis Center in Costa Mesa on Tuesday. After 24 years running the center, the Lloyds are ending their lease.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Max McKennon, a Newport Beach native and men’s tennis sophomore at Arizona State, spent his high school years being coached by former pro Carsten Ball out of Costa Mesa Tennis Center. McKennon and his family have gotten to know Hank Lloyd well.

“He is a legend in O.C. in the tennis world,” McKennon’s mom, Donna, said in a text message. “What he has given back to junior tennis especially has been incredible. He will be missed. It is truly the end of an era!”

Bob Shafer is a retired Wilson Sporting Goods executive who has known Lloyd for decades.

“They always say people have glasses half full, but his is always full,” Shafer said. “He’s just so enthusiastic, and really a great teacher.”

The Lloyds’ eldest son, Tom, is the men’s tennis coach at LMU and middle son, Scott, a Huntington Beach resident, is in the television business. Their youngest son, Robert, lives with them.

“All three of them played varsity tennis at Esperanza High,” Maureen Lloyd said with a laugh. “It’s a requirement when you’re in the family.”

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