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Marvin Shapiro, a 91-year-old tennis player competing in the Palm Beach Open Tennis League, is used to hearing players joking about his age.
It often says, “You’re old enough to be my father.” In fact, Shapiro has played against enough young players to be his grandson.
The Palm Beach Open Tennis League is open to anyone 45 years of age or older. More than 90 communities compete. Most of them are located on the west side of Turnpike scattered in Palm Beach County. Each community sets up teams to play against each other.
Shapiro plays in Coral Lakes, a retirement community west of Boynton Beach. He has been on the tennis courts since he moved from Brooklyn 23 years ago.
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“I get to be 91, but I have 70-year-old parts,” he said, noting that almost everything has been replaced or repaired for him – knees, hips, shoulders. Approximately the only time he has been away from the tennis courts is when he was recovering from these measures. He turns 92 in May.
He started the sport when he moved to Coral Lakes. When he was a kid, there were very few tennis courts in Brooklyn, and he said no one could afford to buy a tennis racket. So he started as a beginner at Coral Lakes and quickly introduced the game.
“This is a guy who will soon turn 92 and he will play competitively in one of our mid-division,” said Sandy Frank, director of the Palm Beach Open Tennis League. “You could say the situation is one in a million.”
Shapiro plays in the league on Tuesdays and Thursdays. One of the complaints he receives is that he rushes his opponents to get on the field after the break. “I don’t like sitting down,” he said. “I don’t seem to be as tired as some of these younger guys.”
On his team captain at Coral Lakes, Ira Kosloff called Shapiro a “unique character” and remarked, “He inspires us all. He’s as sharp as a jacket. If he doesn’t play tennis, he plays pickle. And he goes to the pool almost every day.”
Shapiro, a Korean War veteran, recently returned from Washington DC. He participated in the Honor Flight, where veterans are flown to the capital as part of a program recognizing their service in the country.
“It was amazing,” Shapiro said. “I hadn’t been there in 50 years. More than 1,000 people greeted us on arrival.”
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Shapiro said tennis is still his favorite sport, but he plays more and more saltball these days. Three years ago, he played for the Coral Lakes championship throatball team.
Shapiro admits he’s slowed down a bit in terms of tennis, but if the ball hits anywhere near him, it comes back. He has developed an effective sling bag, and his drop can be deadly.
The author of this article can prove that after playing recently in Valencia Cove, he faced the Shapiron Coral Lakes team. Valencia Cove won the first set, but barely 7-5, and had to come back to do it. Then came the rains. I pulled the calf muscle before the reconstituted match and had to give up. However, Shapiro has been without injuries all year.
Shapiro is looking forward to playing in the winter session of the Palm Beach County Open Tennis League as well as the Palm Beach County Senior League, a league where his opponents must be at least 50 years old.
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