Maud Thorne's love of tennis began at the age of 10 and to date has spanned 65 years. She represented her province for 15 years before joining the Senior and Super-Senior ranks. She has been involved in tennis administration in various capacities, in 1994 becoming only the second woman in South Africa to hold the office of President of a Provincial Association. She has also served as the President of Border Junior Tennis and Border Veterans' Association. For 33 years, she wrote a weekly Tennis Column for the East London "Daily Dispatch" and still covers much of that newspaper's tennis events.