97-year old Leonid Stanislavskyi is the Guinness World Record holder as the oldest amateur tennis player
Leonid Stanislavskyi survived the second World War when he was working as an engineer building Soviet warplanes to fight the Nazis. This time as well the Ukrainian is confident he will survive and continue to do what he loves doing – play tennis.
Due to the ongoing conflict Stanislavskyi is having to stay under cover which means he can’t play anymore. The 97-year old said, “I hope I live to reach 100. I have to survive this frightening situation.”
Stanislavskyi is presently going through a nightmare. “The war started on 24th February. From the 24th till now I’ve practically not gone out. I’ve stayed at home – I have supplies, the fridge is full. I’m sitting at home, not going anywhere”, he said. The Ukrainian describes his horrific experiences, “My daughter Tanya is in Poland, she wants to take me there. But I decided to stay here. I’ve bad hearing so I sleep at night and not hear anything. Last night there were bombings, in the morning there were air-raid sirens again. I never thought I would have to live through another, more frightening war where people from both sides are dying – mothers losing their children, wives are losing their sons and husbands.“
Leonid Stanislavsky has already played against Rafael Nadal, which was a dream come true moment for him. Now, he dreams to play the Swiss maestro, Roger Federer. The Ukrainian wants the war to stop so that he can resume going back to the tennis court to play the sport. “What is this? What good is it?“, Stanislavski is clueless like all of us as to why we are having a war in the 21st century. “In the 21st century, there can’t be war. The war needs to be stopped and an agreement has to be reached“, he says.
Stanislavskyi aims to participate in the seniors World Championships in Florida next month. He was introduced to Tennis at 30 years of age and since then he has been completely in love with the sport.
The 97-year old says, “Tennis is my life, my destiny. I’ve played tennis at a serious level since I was 90. I’ve played abroad, I’ve played in World Championships and the European Championships.”
A hopeful Stanislavskyi further adds, “I am not afraid of anyone. I’m hoping that the war will end and I will be able to play tennis. If I could get to Poland, I would play there. But I decided to stay here and wait for the end of the war.” Like Stanislavskyi, all of us hope that the madness in the world around us stops and normalcy is restored.
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