(Sent to members of the Danish tennis IC -- International Club -- of which T was a longtime member. Written by Mikael Bernhoft, former Danish IC president and longtime dear friend.)

Torben Ulrich was a completely unique personality.

Together with Kurt Nielsen, he put Danish tennis on the world map in the 50s.

His achievements and championships were numerous. But Torben did not go after results for the sake of results or to achieve status or reward. Torben approached the sport of tennis as an art form - on line with jazz, which he also cultivated to perfection.

Torben was constantly experimenting to find new ways. He has told how he could study the flight of a tennis ball for hours by hanging it on a string at and closely following the movement and reaction patterns. Torben was one of the first tennis players in the world to develop topspin - a stroke that was then considered almost impossible to perform with the stiff wooden rackets of the time.

He was also ahead of his time when it came to physical training, movement and balance. It was pure joy to follow Torben's movements on a tennis court. Torben was an icon – ballet dancers from the royal Danish Theater looked up to him.

That for Torben it was about the artistic - and not about winning - we witnessed in a decisive international match at HIK in the 70s. Torben abused several obvious match points trying out stop balls instead of just hitting a simple winner. In the end, he managed to win the match ball with a fantastic backspun stop ball, which bounced back over the net. As teammates, we were desperate for this way of being kept on the torture bench. But Torben couldn't understand that we couldn't see the artistry in ending a match with the opponent storming towards the net after the ball in vain. And then you can stand ready with outstretched hand and say: "thank you for the fight".

As the artist he was, Torben did not allow himself to be dictated. In the 70s, when he had to play internationally at HIK's facilities, he was scheduled for 11 a.m., despite the fact that he had clearly announced that he would under no circumstances play tennis before 12. Forced to do so, he showed up at 11 and dragged himself around the court. The 1st set was quickly lost and the opponent led 5-0 in the second set. But then the clock struck 12 at Messiaskirken 12. And now started playing exhibition tennis. As I recall, the result was 0/6 7/5 6/0 to Torben.

Kristine and I were lucky enough to get close to Torben in the 80s. He had moved to the USA, practiced Tibetan Buddhism and lived ascetically in a small apartment. The new tennis hall in Hørsholm was to be inaugurated in 1986, and what could be better than an exhibition double with our former stars : Torben Ulrich, Kurt Nielsen, Jørgen Ulrich and Jan Leschly. We had to provide accommodation for Torben, and it stayed with us.

However, Torben stayed with us for several months. For us with 4 children and a dog - and a completely conventional Danish family life - it was quite a transition to house a bearded long-term lodger, with a completely different rhythm and way of life from our own. We witnessed meditation, distinctive yoga positions, hour-long runs and meals at times we had not experienced before.

But it was a wonderful time for our whole family. Being allowed to be with such an exciting, knowledgeable, gifted and modest person like Torben on a daily basis was a gift. And Torben also had a wonderful sense of humor.

Later, Torben's wife - the American journalist Molly - came into the picture, as invaluable support for Torben's many experiments.

The most significant was probably when he completed a so-called kneeling walk in the late eighties. It is a spiritual practice among Tibetan Buddhists, where you cover a long distance at a snail's pace by throwing yourself down on the ground, pulling your legs up under you and standing up. Torben chose to move in this way from Hellerup, where he had met his Buddhist mentor, to Rødby, where there was a Buddhist center. Hiking in this way is a feat of physical strength, and you can cover a maximum of approx. 1000 m per day. Torben's walk took approx. 5 months. But as Torben described it with his warm smile: "too bad that I was overtaken at the Swan Mill by the Copenhagen sausage man" (the sausage man was at the same time in the process of going to Paris with his sausage cart in a record attempt.)

Torben turned tennis into visual art by dipping tennis balls in paint and playing the balls up on paper canvases. The works were added to his poems. They are beautiful and unique. Some can still be seen in Leschlyhallen in Hørsholm.

He performed well into his years with skilled jazz musicians, reciting his poems to the music - a very sophisticated form of rap, you could call it.

And Torben was - not least - a very inspiring father to his son Lars.

He did not talk about the fact that he became world champion in tennis at 60+ in his lifetime. He did not play tennis to win or gain fame - but because he was deeply interested in the ball game as an art form. He also made a film, which is entirely about playing tennis balls against clay walls.

Torben Ulrich remained a faithful member of the IC - even after he had long since put the rackets on the shelf.

We have lost a truly unique and outstanding ball artist.