The funeral was due to take place today of a tennis coach who helped develop the talents of some of Britain's finest players.

Denis Bendall also played rugby for Bristol and took part in the D-Day landings as a Royal Navy beach master.

Mr Bendall, who died of cancer on March 21, aged 86, coached thousands of children in Bristol and the South West, developing many to county, regional and national levels. Among them were Jo Durie, who ranked number five in the world and won the Wimbledon mixed doubles with Jeremy Bates in 1987, and Nick Gould, a former British top five and Davis Cup player.

The father-of-three, who had seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, lived in Westbury-on-Trym.

During World War II he joined the Home Guard straight from school, where he had been in the Sea Cadets, and later joined the Royal Navy, where his role in the D-Day landings involved supervising the landing of thousands of men .

After the war he played blind side wing forward for Bristol RFC, later joining Clifton before retiring through injury. Mr Bendall coached rugby and then took up tennis coaching and stayed involved with the sport for 50 years.

He received the Lord Mayor's Medal in May 2003 for his services to sport and tennis in Bristol and was nominated for a Bristol University centenary degree last month.

His funeral was due to take place at 11.30am on Tuesday, at Westbury-on-Trym Parish Church.