Tennis champ Sean Sorensen has Cork apartment plans knocked out of court

One of the country’s most successful ever tennis players, who started playing at the old Douglas village courts (500m from his childhood home at No 1 Endsleigh), received a volley of objections and observations on plans he and Helga Sorensen lodged with Cork City Council.

The plans were for eight two-bed and five one-bed apartments, in a two-/four-storey block, at the entrance to the 1960s residential cul de sac estate.

The proposal attracted observation from up to 90 individuals, Inland Fisheries, Endsleigh and the Willows Residents Association, and Regina Mundi girls secondary school, after a public meeting.

Concerns highlighted height, density, and congestion at a junction which gets busy at a particular time of the school day.

The plans, drawn up by Meitheal Architects, proposed a new pedestrian access point at Endsleigh Estate — a mix of 1960s detacheds and semis — and the main Douglas Rd and two covered bicycle shelters, but no car parking.

Sean Sorensen’s former detached, two-storey family home in Slane is at the entrance to Endsleigh, opposite a petrol station and near a number of busy schools.

His Wikipedia page says he moved to Stuttgart in Germany for several decades, and later Dublin, after retiring from competitive tennis in the 1980s.

He was in the most successful ever Davis Cup doubles partnership with Matt Doyle, notching up to six cup wins, as well as being the first Irishman to play to make a Grand Slam in Wimbledon, in the Open Era, in 1977.

Both of the couple’s sons, Louk and Kevin, have also played tennis at Davis Cup level.