98-year-old Ukrainian Leonid Stanislavsky is the oldest tennis player in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records but now Henry Young, the 99-year-old from Keith, South Australia has joined hands with the touring veteran to play at the Australian Open.
Young gave his statement to Sonya Feldhoff saying “It wasn’t really until I retired at 70 that I really started to play and enjoy my tennis.”
Tennis has no age limit 🥰
Leonid Stanislavsky, 98, and Henry Young, 99, took to the court at the Australian Open fundraiser as the world’s 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐭 tennis players! 🎾#AustralianOpen | @AustralianOpen pic.twitter.com/GYOlx6QqZ6
— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 11, 2023
These two players, who can be considered the two oldest tennis players in the world, met in the Battle of the Centurions, which was a part of the Tennis Plays For Peace charity event, played on January 11, at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
Who is Leonid Stanislavsky?
Leonid Stanislavsky, aged 98 years has been playing amateur tennis for more than 60 years. His passion for tennis did not cease to exist despite witnessing the scarcity of players in his age group.
He competes in various World and European Championships, although he does not move as swiftly as he used to on-court. Leonid Stanislavsky was 30 years old when his colleague introduced him to tennis. Since then, he trains three times a week in his hometown of Kharkiv in Eastern Ukraine.
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Leonid holds the record for being the oldest tennis player and he is training for the 2023 Super-Seniors World Championship to be held in Mallorca, Spain He has been playing tennis under the forums of ITF since the age of 32. He has been active on-court ever since. His career-high ranking under the age category of 90+ is 29 worldwide.
Who is Henry Young?
The most senior is the appropriately named Henry Young, who is aged 99. Despite two knee replacements and a hip replacement, he aims to win singles and doubles matches against veterans aged between 85 and 89.
Henry Young, many years ago sold his 1600-hectare, 3500-sheep, and wheat property near Keith in south-eastern South Australia and moved to Adelaide with his wife, Madge. And tennis, the game he had loved as a child, became a cherished part of his retirement.
The great-grandfather plays club tennis three or four times a week and enters competitions all over Australia. In 2011 and 2012, he represented Australia in the over-80 category in Turkey and Croatia.