Oldtimer keeps serving them up
By GEORGE GROSS -- Toronto Sun
Thanks to our Baby Boomers, Canada's name has not been eradicated from the world tennis scene.
Our golden oldies, septuagenarians Lorne Main and Ken Sinclair, are the best in the world in their age class.
Looking at Canada's "elite" players, only Toronto's Daniel Nestor (in consort with his Bahamian doubles partner, Mark Knowles) will carry Canada's name forward at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Nestor is the only surviving Canadian in this Aussie tennis showcase after our gallant women -- Maureen Drake of Toronto and Marie-Eve Pelletier of Repentigny, Que. -- lost three-set matches in the first round.
Lorne Main is not in Melbourne. He spends six months a year in Florida, playing tennis almost every day. He is a former Canadian champion and, at 73, still a formidable foe on the tennis court.
The other day, he returned from Antayla, Turkey, where he won his record-breaking eighth senior singles world championship by beating his doubles partner -- Sinclair -- in the final. They then teamed up to defend their doubles title, but were beaten in the final in a tiebreaker by Aussies Adrian Alle and Neville Langford. Previously, Main and Sinclair had won nine senior world titles.
These senior championships featured not only aging over-the-webbing players but also several former Davis Cup stars, including American Gardner Mulloy and Bodo Nitschke of Germany.
"I loved that place in Turkey," Main told me yesterday from his Florida home. "It's about 400 miles south of Istanbul and the tournament was held at the Club Alibay, which has 54 tennis courts. It's a similar setup to Club Med.
"Winning my eighth singles world title makes me feel good because it keeps the name of Canada up front internationally. My singles win was my fourth in a row over Ken, but he beat me before that in Montreal and Toronto."
Makes you wonder what keeps a man of 73 (Sinclair is 74) in such good shape.
"I'm a tennis vagabond," Main said with a chortle. "At least that's what they say about me in Tennis Canada. I play tennis almost every day by spending six months of the year in Florida. Then, I spend two months in Vancouver, a city I love dearly. I also spend a month in Toronto, where I can play at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club. The remaining days I spend travelling and playing at various tournaments."
How long does he expect to be so active, I asked?
"Look, Gardner Malloy is 90 and still playing tennis in tournaments," Main said. "When I grow up, I'll decide what else I can do. So far, I'm enjoying what I'm doing."
The self-confessed Canadian tennis vagabond is next off to Holland, where he'll play in exhibition matches against Dutch seniors as part of the program of the Canada-Netherlands Davis Cup tie, Feb. 6-8.
Could it be that he made a side trip to the Caribbean and found the fountain of youth?
GROSSLY ABBREVIATED: Tennis Canada sent along a cheque for $100 for the Variety Village Christmas Fund to help me reach the $1-million mark in reader contributions for this worthy cause ... Also hoping that we would reach our goal is Dr. Tom Pashby OC, who also sent along $100 with his best wishes, as did Joe Millage, the hard-working official of Variety Village who's known as Millage of the Village ... Sincere condolences to former Maple Leafs favourite Eddie (The Entertainer) Shack who lost his mother and sister within a month.
