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The Australian
4 days ago
- Sport
- The Australian
WWII fighter pilot who fought Nazis, playing tennis at 101
A 101-year-old World War II fighter pilot will extend his lead as the oldest competitive tennis player in the world on the Gold Coast this week. Henry Young AM was 20 years old when he battled the Nazis in the skies above Europe, flying Spitfires for the Royal Navy. Eight decades later Mr Young will contest the Queensland State Seniors Tennis Championships at Miami Tennis Club in Mermaid Waters. It will be his first appearance since earning his Order of Australia Medal for services to veterans and tennis on the King's Birthday holiday in June. The Gold Coast tournament is a far cry from launching off the deck of an aircraft carrier but no less a tale of determination and bravery at an age where even walking unaided is an athletic feat. The retired lieutenant picked up the sport at 70 and has paid a heavy price to continue playing past his 100th birthday. Two new knees, a hip replacement, a pacemaker, cataract surgery in both eyes and two nasal reconstructions have kept Mr Young on court later in life than any man alive. Why go through it? 'Because I love it,' the South Australian said. 'Given my time again I'd do it (start playing) at 65 because I have loved my time playing tennis.' Mr Young said he first picked up squash to pass the time while grounded at airfields during the war. After retiring from farm life in South Australia Mr Young began playing tennis and never stopped. He said advances in medicine meant his case should not be as unique as it is. 'There's a lot of luck in it, of course,' Mr Young said of his remarkable longevity. 'People give up tennis when they get tennis elbow, or something like that, and that's ridiculous. 'The medical profession is so good these days that they can renew things, so people shouldn't give up.' Giving up isn't in Mr Young's vocabulary. The centenarian is an international celebrity on the Masters tennis circuit and trained with World No.1 Jannik Sinner and No.3 Alexander Zverev ahead of the Australian Open in January. Mr Young played on centre court at Rod Laver Arena himself in 2023, and played ITF World Senior events in Turkiye and Mallorca last year. With a Japanese tournament on the horizon in 2026, Young is not giving retirement any thought. 'I'm not giving it up,' he said. 'When I start to embarrass my playing partners then I'll give it up. I think I've got another two or three years left in me. 'I've got my eye on the Japanese. They've got a tournament in 2026 and I think I might just make it. They love old people, so they'll love me.' Tennis Gold Coast president Mike Ford said Mr Young's abilities were outstanding. 'He's hitting a beautiful ball. He loves the game, he's energetic, he turns up, he looks forward to playing every day,' said Mr Ford, who coached Mr Young for a session at Mantra Sun City on Wednesday. 'He's the ideal pupil and at 101 – can you believe it? I can't,' Mr Ford added. 'He talks about the next tournament he's going to go to in Croatia in October and then Japan, so it's magnificent.' The Queensland State Seniors Tennis Championships began Thursday July 3 and conclude on Tuesday July 8. Nic Darveniza Sports editor Nic Darveniza is the Gold Coast Bulletin sports editor, and writes for CODE Sports. Darveniza began as a cadet at the Courier-Mail before specialising in sport at the Gold Coast Bulletin. He returned to the Gold Coast in 2025 after three years as sports editor at the Townsville Bulletin. He is a published author and commentator who reckons he could have been a Wallaby if not for a dodgy right knee and a total inability to tackle in the open field. Tennis Nick Kyrgios has slammed a move from Jannik Sinner to reunite with the fitness coach he sacked in 2024 after it was revealed that the Italian had tested positive for doping. Tennis Venus Williams has made her return from a 16-month layoff at the DC Open, wowing a capacity crowd in the doubles ahead of her singes comeback.
ABC News
02-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Centenarian Henry Young shows age no barrier to staying active
At 101, Henry Young lives up to his family name more than the number before it. He says it is "ridiculous" that he regularly competes in international tennis tournaments where his opponents are sometimes several decades his junior. But, he thinks it is more ridiculous that more senior citizens are not gracing the court. "There's no reason why everybody shouldn't be there, it's just a matter of looking after yourself and enjoying yourself." he said. The World War II veteran, who plays tennis recreationally up to four times per week, said age should be no barrier to enjoying life, especially when it came to his beloved game. "People give up their tennis too early," he said. "Medicine is so good these days that when things wear out they can renew them — I'm a living example of that. "I've got varicose veins that have been stripped or tied off, I've got two new knees, a new hip, a pacemaker, lenses in both eyes so I can read the paper without glasses, a hearing aid in my left ear and a cochlear in my right ear, but I think the rest of me is all natural." Mr Young said his competitive streak, a keen eye for opportunity and healthy breakfasts of corn flakes and fruit were among the keys to his longevity. As a young man living in New Zealand during World War II, he signed up to be a fighter pilot and was sent to England to get his wings. Once there, he was offered the chance to complete his training in the United States. "A 20-year-old for 13 months in the United States, you can imagine what that was like," he laughed. "I've had a wonderful life and that was one of the highlights." In 2023, a then 99-year-old Mr Young played at the Australian Open, sharing the court with tennis heavyweights Alexander Zverev and Francis Tiafoe, and fellow tennis senior Leonid Stanislavsky. This weekend Mr Young will compete in the Queensland Seniors Championships on the Gold Coast. "I love the competitive aspect and it's nice to know where you are in the hierarchy," he said. After hitting it out on the Gold Coast, the centenarian plans to travel to Croatia for his next masters tennis tournament later this year and may visit the European snowfields. "It's a nice part of the world so I'll play tennis there for the week and then, it's close to Switzerland, so maybe I'll do a bit of skiing," Mr Young said. "I'm lucky, I love my skiing, it's competitive and it's nice to test yourself." Of all the life lessons he has learned in his 101 years, Mr Young said "taking opportunities" was the one above all others he wished more people would know. "We [Australia] are a lucky country, but you're only lucky if you grab your luck."
The Guardian
14-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
‘Tennis repairs you': the 101-year-old fuelled by iced coffee who still plays competitively
Henry Young doesn't mind being asked about his secret to a long, active life – it comes with the territory when you're a 101-year-old competitive tennis player. It has its perks, like getting to play on centre court during the Australian Open, but what he does mind is that it's considered so remarkable that he is playing at all. That he is seen as extraordinary and there must be some magic trick that keeps him going. 'What bugs me is that people give up their tennis when they have some kind of injury,' Young says. 'I'm a monument to the medical profession because I've had so many injuries and I just persevere, and then tennis repairs you.' Just as a sore calf doesn't have to mean the end of the road for a runner, or a pulled hamstring signal the end of a football career, Young wishes the prospect of injury didn't deter older people from playing sport. But staring down the barrel of a long rehabilitation process can be daunting, and returning to sport and exercise after injury undeniably gets harder as you age, so an ever-increasing amount of determination is required each time. This is not something Young is lacking. 'Two new knees, a new hip, pacemaker for my heart, hearing aids in one ear and a cochlear implant in the other and two broken noses,' he says. 'You just can't keep a good man down.' Young's doggedness is key to playing for so long – he just can't stop, it's not in his nature. Tennis has featured in Young's life since school, along with rugby and then squash during his time as a fighter pilot in the New Zealand navy. But when he returned to work on the land in South Australia after the second world war, he could only pick up a racket a few times a year. It wasn't until Young was 70 and retired that tennis became such a big part of his life. Winding around War Memorial Drive in Adelaide 30 years ago, he passed the tennis club with a billboard out front saying 'good tennis players wanted' and thought he'd have a crack. 'They said, 'you have to get tennis lessons unless you belong to a tennis club,' and I didn't want to take lessons,' Young says. So he made up a club. 'I said that I belonged to the Inglewood Tennis Club. [Inglewood] was the name of a neighbouring property where we used to play tennis. And they took it.' As Young had suspected, he played well enough to satisfy the recruiters at Memorial Drive so no lessons were required. 'That's when it started,' he says. 'And I'm competitive so I started really playing, and making it my sport, which it still is.' Now a centenarian with three decades of competitive tennis under his belt, Young is preparing for the ITF Masters Championships in Croatia in October. He plays three to four times a week, often with his friend and sometimes doubles partner Gerry Prideaux, and spends a little time in the gym at his retirement complex. That training regime is about to diversify further. 'I've bought myself a rowing machine,' Young says. 'I've set it up next to the window … so every morning I'm going to do 20 minutes rowing in the Adelaide hills.' Young made history in 2023 as the first 100-year-old to play in the World Masters Individual Championships. 'It's only recently that they've started to make it a bit easier for me,' he says. 'I used to have to play down in the 80-year-olds [age category]. But then they made it 85, now they've got the 90s, and some of the countries are even going to 95.' He's sure it won't be long before there are enough players over 100 to have their own age group too. 'I'm doing my little bit to persuade people to keep on trying, because we're all living longer these days.' Sign up to Australia Sport Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk after newsletter promotion Young is happy to share his advice for staying healthy as you age and swears by 'wholesome thoughts' and a balanced diet with a twist. 'I watch my diet, and part of my diet is that I drink three two-litre [cartons] of Farmers Union iced coffee every week,' he says. His attachment to iced coffee is so strong that he's always itching to get back home to it when he travels interstate. The coffee is the outlier in an otherwise fairly standard menu. 'I like everything, I like my meat and my fish and vegetables … I make sure that I get that full variety,' he says. 'I snack on nuts during the day and I've got my iced coffee, and that really keeps me fit.' However, Young's number one tip for people of any age is no secret at all. 'I would encourage everybody to play tennis,' he says, claiming the medical profession supports his view that it's the best ball sport for you. 'In tennis, win or lose, you gain something. It's very nice to be able to say to the man at the other end of the tennis court, 'it was a good win, but you had to work for it,' and you both laugh. They're the ones that you remember, the games that you really had to fight for, and that's competition … it's good for you.'
