World's oldest tennis player still holding court at ripe old age of 97

For 97-year-old Leonid Stanislavskyi, a Ukrainian who has been playing amateur tennis for over half a century, it is next to impossible to find a worthy adversary in his age group.

That has not stopped him from participating in the world and European championships for seniors and outplaying younger competitors, although he is not moving around the court as fast as before.

Stanislavskyi was 30 when his colleague, then a Soviet champion in gymnastics, introduced him to tennis. Since then, he has trained three times a week in his hometown of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

"It is an elegant type of sport. It is good physical exercise. It is a beautiful game. And there is one more thing about tennis－you can play no matter what age you are," he said.