Oldest living tennis champion, 99, played for the love of the game, not money

As Seixas chats, the US Open is playing on his living-room TV, multimillionaires playing for more millions. Seixas played before the Open Era, which started in 1968 and allowed former Amateur players to cash in big.

Seixas didn’t make a dime even though, as it says in his Tennis Hall of Fame bio, It could be argued, and with factual documentation, that from 1940 to 1968, Vic Seixas was the face of American tennis.

That face smiles at the money question.

Do I regret I missed out on all that money? I traveled all over the world, you know, he said. Ive been to every continent and almost every country you could think of. I didn’t get any money (expenses were paid by tennis associations and tourney sponsors), but I did everything.

You lived pretty well. Stayed in good hotels, everything paid for. You lived like a king. You didn’t make any money, that’s all. I can’t complain. I’ve had a great life, I’m very happy.

Well, they could complain. The same fellow who nimbly leaped over the net to congratulate the men he beat a lovely and obsolete tradition now uses a wheelchair most of the time and has a balky hip. He requires full-time care. His eyesight is fading, so TV is hard to watch, and he is embarrassed when he runs into friends and doesn’t recognize them.

Seixas seems to have come to terms with aging. And he has the memories of the years when he moved like a cat. The great Stan Smith once said of Seixas, His game was a little bit wristy, with this nice slice backhand, but the thing I remember the most is how well he moved.

The 6-foot-1, 180-pound right-hander was on constant attack, a pure serve-and-volleyer. At the net, there was nobody better. Average mechanics, according to his HOF bio, but few had his spirit, emotion, and tenacity.

Id come in on every ball, Seixas said. We didn’t have many long rallies like they have today. I never let the ball bounce if I could help it. … I moved pretty well. If you go to the net, you have to be able to move pretty well. Im making up for it now. I can’t move at all.

They said that with a laugh, adding, I was pretty fast, pretty agile.

Seixas also had a fiery temper. But his behavior, said then-Australian Prime Minister RG Menzies, must be Overlooked when you realize it is a chip of the rugged and admirable character of Seixas the fighter on court.

They played hard and burned hot for a long, long time. Seixas played his first US Championship at age 17 in 1940, and his last in 1969, after it had become the US Open.

Seixas doesn’t brag much, but he does mention, I was the oldest first-time Winner of the US (Championship). I was 31. Late bloomer.

And long-stayer. Check this out:

At age 42, at a tourney in his hometown of Philadelphia, Seixas beat Bill Bowrey, a 22-year-old Australian, in a 94-game match that lasted more than four hours.