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Artin Elmayan is the oldest-ranked tennis player of the world
15:35, 19 September, 2012
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: "I've got to get my rackets," he
says under the shadow of the Monumental, the giant stadium which is
home to one of the world's great soccer clubs where members enjoy a
variety of sports. As Armenpress reports citing Reuters, Armenian-born
Elmayan's choice is tennis, a sport he took up at the age of 39. Now,
aged 95, he is the world's oldest-ranked player. The International
Tennis Federation ranks Elmayan 26th among men over 85, a list headed
by Italian Angelo Sala who will be 86 in December. There are only 39
men in the ITF's over-85 ranking, three of them Argentines, and
Elmayan is the only one born before 1920. The next oldest are
Eugeniusz Czerepaniak of Poland who is 91 and ranked one place above
Elmayan, and 90-year-old Australian Neville Halligan, the number
eight. Elmayan does not compete internationally so he is likely to
meet only fellow-Argentines Guillermo Garcia or Jose Otero, both in
their 80s, in competitions. "Eighty-five plus, because there isn't
anyone who's 90, much less 95. So I have to play against
85-year-olds," Elmayan told Reuters in an interview. "I do all right,
sometimes I take second place. Last year I won second place twice. It
depends on the state of my opponent, and my own. There are no enigmas
here," he said after a 20-minute knockup with one of the club's
coaches. The sprightly Elmayan enjoys a routine that keeps him slim
and happy, travelling by train into the capital to River Plate from
the suburbs three times a week. "If my body and feet allow it, I'm not
going to sit still. As far as stretching, I take the train and walk
from the station to here. When I get here I've already loosened up,"
he said. Elmayan said that if he had to play three sets, he was able
to cope and recalled having recently played and lost against Garcia,
seven years younger than him, and then suggesting they go for a run.
"Are you crazy, now you want to run?" Elmayan, laughing, recalled
Garcia as saying. Elmayan, who emigrated to Argentina from Europe when
it was on the verge of war in 1938 at the age of 21, said he took up
tennis as a hobby and has never looked back. He is part of a large
Armenian community in Argentina that includes leading professional and
former world number three David Nalbandian. Elmayan said he had never
had a tennis lesson, taking his cue from playing "paleta", a sport
with a wooden paddle-like racket and rubber ball that he played when
he was younger. "No one told me how to hold a racket, I copied it from
paleta and went on from there," he said. Elmayan's whole family plays
or played tennis, his wife now 88, daughter, son-in-law and two
grandchildren. He lost a grandson, who represented the club at tennis,
at the age of 21 from cancer, a shock that may have added to his
fierce grip on life. "First there is eating and then comes tennis. It
is part of my life to stay in shape in every way," said Elmayan from
behind his goggle-like sunglasses on a bright late winter's day in
Buenos Aires. "Tennis makes you breathe oxygen, keeps your body in
shape, keeps you from getting a belly, or getting fat, helps fight
cholesterol problems and everything," he said. "Now, if you stop
coming, if I go two months without playing, I'll get a belly."
15:35, 19 September, 2012
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS: "I've got to get my rackets," he
says under the shadow of the Monumental, the giant stadium which is
home to one of the world's great soccer clubs where members enjoy a
variety of sports. As Armenpress reports citing Reuters, Armenian-born
Elmayan's choice is tennis, a sport he took up at the age of 39. Now,
aged 95, he is the world's oldest-ranked player. The International
Tennis Federation ranks Elmayan 26th among men over 85, a list headed
by Italian Angelo Sala who will be 86 in December. There are only 39
men in the ITF's over-85 ranking, three of them Argentines, and
Elmayan is the only one born before 1920. The next oldest are
Eugeniusz Czerepaniak of Poland who is 91 and ranked one place above
Elmayan, and 90-year-old Australian Neville Halligan, the number
eight. Elmayan does not compete internationally so he is likely to
meet only fellow-Argentines Guillermo Garcia or Jose Otero, both in
their 80s, in competitions. "Eighty-five plus, because there isn't
anyone who's 90, much less 95. So I have to play against
85-year-olds," Elmayan told Reuters in an interview. "I do all right,
sometimes I take second place. Last year I won second place twice. It
depends on the state of my opponent, and my own. There are no enigmas
here," he said after a 20-minute knockup with one of the club's
coaches. The sprightly Elmayan enjoys a routine that keeps him slim
and happy, travelling by train into the capital to River Plate from
the suburbs three times a week. "If my body and feet allow it, I'm not
going to sit still. As far as stretching, I take the train and walk
from the station to here. When I get here I've already loosened up,"
he said. Elmayan said that if he had to play three sets, he was able
to cope and recalled having recently played and lost against Garcia,
seven years younger than him, and then suggesting they go for a run.
"Are you crazy, now you want to run?" Elmayan, laughing, recalled
Garcia as saying. Elmayan, who emigrated to Argentina from Europe when
it was on the verge of war in 1938 at the age of 21, said he took up
tennis as a hobby and has never looked back. He is part of a large
Armenian community in Argentina that includes leading professional and
former world number three David Nalbandian. Elmayan said he had never
had a tennis lesson, taking his cue from playing "paleta", a sport
with a wooden paddle-like racket and rubber ball that he played when
he was younger. "No one told me how to hold a racket, I copied it from
paleta and went on from there," he said. Elmayan's whole family plays
or played tennis, his wife now 88, daughter, son-in-law and two
grandchildren. He lost a grandson, who represented the club at tennis,
at the age of 21 from cancer, a shock that may have added to his
fierce grip on life. "First there is eating and then comes tennis. It
is part of my life to stay in shape in every way," said Elmayan from
behind his goggle-like sunglasses on a bright late winter's day in
Buenos Aires. "Tennis makes you breathe oxygen, keeps your body in
shape, keeps you from getting a belly, or getting fat, helps fight
cholesterol problems and everything," he said. "Now, if you stop
coming, if I go two months without playing, I'll get a belly."