(LEX 18) — One of the world's premier tennis tournaments is in full swing right now: Wimbledon in London, England.
Here in the Bluegrass, a recently-retired physician boasts one of the largest tennis memorabilia collections in the world.
Mike Eden invited LEX 18 into his basement for a tour of his collection that boasts anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000 pieces. The items come from around the world and span more than 150 years, but his obsession started small, at a garage sale in the early 80's.
"It was a Slazenger tennis can," he told LEX 18. "It was made in South Africa as metal, and that's when metal cans were being phased out. And so then I thought, 'That's kind of cool.' And I picked it up at a for a quarter at a garage sale, and that's how it started."
Eden was introduced to tennis in high school before playing at Georgetown College. He's been hitting the court ever since, while growing his collection of unique keepsakes.
Just beyond his gallery of antique racquets and vintage advertisements, doors open to perhaps Eden's most impressive display: rows and rows of tennis balls cans.
"Probably about 700 different cans, approximately, and over 200 boxes," Eden explained.
This week, Eden retired from a career in family medicine at Lexington Clinic. He'll not only have more time for playing his favorite sport, but scoring his next tennis treasure.
"This is an unusual thing," he said. "Not many people would have done this, but I'm glad that I'm able to preserve all these items for people in the future to be able to enjoy them," he said.
Eden's wife and two daughters also play tennis, and he just welcomed his first grandchild this week, a baby boy. He says they're going to hang a tennis mobile over his crib, in hopes of adding another tennis player to the family.
