69-year-old Gail "The Legend"...

[gzhpcu]

http://www.eurosport.com/tennis/69-y...71/story.shtml

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdsBWXcvQcc

This is a joke! 69? She looks 90!

How can this bad a player be allowed to play an ITF pro tournament? If she were fit and knew how to play, but she is just a hacker!

[klacr]

Because she is a local. The match you showed on youtube was her 2nd round match. Which means she won her 1st round match. If the draw is weak or needs to be filled, these things happen to round it out. There are numerous small pro money events in Florida where you will often see a aspiring young pro or top junior take on a 40 or 50 year old moderate player and the youngster mops the floor with them. It happens. Thats up to the tournament director and whether the player can pay the entry fee.

Tennis is a sport for a lifetime. No age limit enforced. Do we really want tennis to have a Logan's Run scenario? Some will say this match is a joke, but it speaks volumes about what a special game this is.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

It is not about age, it is about level of fitness and athletisism...

I play tennis with partners ranging from 40 to 80. The 80 year old guy is as fit as a fiddle. He still cycles 50 miles daily. On court, he is as fast as a jack rabbit, a lot faster than many 50 year old guys. He doesn't lumber and limp around the court like the 69 year old woman...

[klacr]

It is not about age, it is about level of fitness and athletisism...

I play tennis with partners ranging from 40 to 80. The 80 year old guy is as fit as a fiddle. He still cycles 50 miles daily. On court, he is as fast as a jack rabbit, a lot faster than many 50 year old guys. He doesn't lumber and limp around the court like the 69 year old woman...

You'll be playing with a 34 year-old this summer in Lugano that can be on court all day if you let him.

Not her fault. A tourney director took her entry fee and allowed her to play, knowing it would get some media attention. I've seen worse from some ATP futures qualifying events here in Florida.

I don't disagree with your disappointment, but its still a business.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

You'll be playing with a 34 year-old this summer in Lugano that can be on court all day if you let him.

Not her fault. A tourney director took her entry fee and allowed her to play, knowing it would get some media attention. I've seen worse from some ATP futures qualifying events here in Florida.

I don't disagree with your disappointment, but its still a business.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

How much is the entry fee?

[klacr]

It varies from tournament to tournament. Some are low as $25 while others are $175 to $200 and even more. Not uncommon for some players to "donate" a large sum of money $1,000 and higher just to get into quails of a larger event.

I doubt this woman paid a large sum of money but the point is some of these lower level tournaments are indeed "open"

I don't have as much of an issue with this woman entering, after all, she did win her first round match. I have a bigger issue with a scenario like what Fabio Fogging pulled earlier this week in Monte Carlo vs. Paolo Lorenzi. Fogging lost 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 in what can only be described as an absolute tank job. But he will get away with it as he used the excuse that he was "injured". People paid money to see competitive tennis in Monte Carlo and he is a world class "professional ranked as high as 13 in the world, and he pulls that? Now thats worth getting upset over.

No one paid to see or was expecting world class tennis from a 69 year old. No one got cheated. In fact, Falkenberg has a lot more heart and spirit than Fognini for putting forth the effort.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Doesn't sound very professional to me.

In Switzerland, you need a Swiss Tennis license to compete in tournaments. When you start playing tournament tennis, you start at the bottom of the ladder. You gain ranking points with victories. The more you win, the higher up your ranking goes.

The tournaments are set up with ranking ranges.

Tournaments are organized in ranking ranges and are either open to all ages, or a junior vet, senior, veteran only. Older players with a high ranking can play in the open category or a lower age catergory if they wish.

No way here that a 69 year old hacker could come up against a high ranked woman player. She would be stuck in low ranking tournaments, where she belongs.

[stotty]

In Switzerland, you need a Swiss Tennis license to compete in tournaments. When you start playing tournament tennis, you start at the bottom of the ladder. You gain ranking points with victories. The more you win, the higher up your ranking goes.

The tournaments are set up with ranking ranges.

It's more or less the same in the UK. Tournaments are graded. You have to have a minimum ranking and rating to qualify for each grade. In the lower grade tournaments some suspect players sneak in but in the higher grade tournaments it doesn't happen. On the whole it's a good system.

[klacr]

I understand. Fortunately for her, the tournament is in the USA.
I prefer that system in your neck of the woods. Lots of screwy things happen here.


Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Pay the price of admission...

Tennis is a sport for a lifetime. No age limit enforced. Do we really want tennis to have a Logan's Run scenario? Some will say this match is a joke, but it speaks volumes about what a special game this is.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Thanks klacr for having the good sense and compassion to put the proper spin on this interesting thread. All this talk of ranking points. The objections of a little old lady playing in a sanctioned event where she might be in over her head.

It used to be that there was one draw. It was either Men's singles or Ladie's singles. If you paid the price of admission and you were a member of the USTA you played. Survival of the fittest. The weaker players got weeded out as they do in nature. They get "eaten" by bigger, stronger, faster players.

This older gal just may have had something to add to the draw by way of her experience or perhaps her just being there was enough to inspire those around her. Where is any semblance of compassion for a fellow human being? Of course…there is none. Love is an old fashioned idea. Just ask Aldous Huxley.

The usual self righteous clamouring for the demise of somebody…anybody. She has her story to tell. Just put her on your ignore list. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread.