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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | AUGUST 2023 53 As we all live in a retirement community (oops, my bad! It is a 55+ Active Adult Community!), the word retirement does come up periodically. As a tennis enthusiast, I thought it might be interesting to explore some tidbits on retirement age of professional tennis players. Having watched professional tennis matches for God only knows how many years, I still recall how Bjorn Borg dominated the pro circuit in the 70s, winning 11 Grand Slam titles, recording the most consecutive wins in tennis history. For one reason or another, Borg decided to retire at the ripe old age of only 26. As time goes on, retirement age for tennis pros has been increasing. Roger Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam men's singles titles, just retired at 39. Novak Djokovic, who has won 23 Grand Slam men's singles titles at 33 (when this article went to print), is still going strong. Of course, these are the absolute top professional players. They certainly do not represent the vast majority of the players. Tennis is a sport in which serious players would start at a very young age. Most training and matches are played on hard, concrete surfaces. In trying to climb up the incredibly competitive ranking, players spend an inordinate amount of time training on and off the tennis court. Over time, the body takes a considerable toll and would often result in injuries, which would sometimes lead to early retirement. On average, less successful professional players typically retire around 27. This is primarily due to either financial reasons, burnout, or lack of good medical support. For those players, life is rather tough. They barely earn a living playing in tournaments but still need to pay for all the touring expenses. Some might even be forced to retire in their early 20s. However, for the more successful ones, they have the financial means to support what they need to prolong their career. On the brighter side, modern technology and sports medicine nowadays are helping players to stay in the game longer, enabling them to retire later. At Four Seasons, we have players who play well into their 80s. Irve Sturner was a prime example. Let's see who among us is the first one to play into their 90s. Let the race begin! See you all at The Courts. Website: https://sites.google.com/view/tennis-fourseasons/home. ~ Stan Lam, (714) 757-2141, slamcpa@gmail.com Tennis Club We held a 1-Point Knockout Tournament on June 12 and for the 10 players who participated, our fun goal expectation was a Knockout! From the music, to the treats, to the eats, to the unorthodox table set up, this tournament rocked. We had so much fun that we decided to make it a semi-annual event instead of the annual event we originally intended. None of us were around for the shootout at the O.K. Corral, but this ping pong shootout at The Courts matched the original shootout for excitement and was more fun and safer. The neat thing about the tournament was that everyone scored points and when lower seeded players knocked out the top guns it was hilarious to watch. Consider coming to play ping pong with us Mondays through Saturdays from 2 to 4 pm. Come give it a try. For more information, email Niles at nilstrom@ gmail.com. ~ Niles Sundstrom Table Tennis e best ping pong play for one point was between Mitch Harmon and Jeannine Baker. e ball went back and forth 27 times until Mitch finally scored 1 point e winners of the tournament were Jeannine Baker (2nd place with16 points), Mitch Harmon (1st with 21 points) and Perry White (3rd with 15 points)

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