It is the biggest tournament of the year and at age 34 you are in your "prime" on the tennis court. You have to play that talented junior that you played many times in the past and always came out on top. But now that junior has returned from a full season of college tennis and things do not go well. You are dejected after the loss and wonder what happened. Am I two steps slower or is my "junior" opponent two steps faster?
Thoughts go through your head that this could be the end of your competitive career.
A buddy tries to cheer you up and suggests-hey,not so bad as next year you can also play "seniors" tennis. You are a little surprised. "Seniors"-I have decades to go before I am a senior.
Not according to the ITF (International Tennis Federation). Seniors tennis starts at age 35 with different categories every five years. The year you turn 35 is the year you could start playing in the event even if your 35th birthday is after the event. It is possible (but not probable) that if you entered the 35's world individuals championships in Croatia in May 2016 ,you might draw Roger Federer if he decides he needs a warm up before the French Open. Likewise in the women's 35, you might come face to face with Serena Williams if she decides on a tune up confidence builder before the French Open. Before thinking of beating the world's best, you might want to start closer to home. Seniors tennis has competitions locally, nationally and internationally.
Locally in Ottawa the NCTA (ncta.ca) has seniors events eloquently called the "Masters" with competitions in the 35's,45's 55's and 65's in both singles and doubles. Fortunately you do not have to be a master of anything to play. Pay your entry fee and you are in and you also have an opportunity to play in multiple events if you want to play down an age category or two.
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| 2011 55's opening ceremony in Ashburton, New Zealand |
Internationally you will be amazed when you visit www.itftennis.com/seniors to see the large number of senior events all over the world. It looks a little bit like the ATP or WTA schedule and you may be tempted to give up your day job for this lifestyle. The crown jewel in the seniors yearly schedule is the World Team event followed a week later by the World Individuals Championships. The World Team event is the Davis Cup or Federation Cup equivalent for seniors except that instead of being played out over a calendar year, it is played out over a week. Your opponents that you battle with at Nationals now become your best buddies as you unite for Canada vs the world.
Following the team event, the World Individual Championships takes place in a venue close to or the same as the team event. Players come from all over the world to compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. As with the other seniors events, no ranking is required and once you pay your registration fee and get an ITF Ipin number,you are into the event. Seniors tennis has grown so quickly that the groups are now divided into "Young Seniors" with 35', 40's and 45's age categories: "Seniors" with 50's,55's and 60's and "Super Seniors" 65's,70's,75's,80's 85's. The events are now played at different time periods and in different parts of the world to accommodate the large number of players involved.
Ottawa players that have done well in Nationals and/or internationally include Evelyn Hustwit, Pat Marks, Shaheer Mikhail, Christa Cameron, Colin McAlpin, Marko Vukovic, Bruce Ackland, Carlo Zambri and Imran Syed.