Last Sunday, the 69-year-old beat 22-year-old Rosalyn Small in straight sets, bageling and breadsticking her opponent. After her 6-0, 6-1 victory, she told assembled press at the event that her opponent, who is young enough to be her granddaughter, was bamboozled by her topspin.
She made her professional debut at 38, when most players have already retired from the sport. Her last professional victory, which was also her biggest, came at a qualifying match at the 1998 Australian Open, although she did not progress beyond the earliest stages of the tournament.
Falkenberg cruised to a thundering victory, her first in over 26 years. Formerly a tennis coach for the men’s and women’s teams at the University of Central Florida, told the Wall Street Journal that she could be playing tournaments in her age bracket but prefered to play in the open bracket. ““I enjoy being around the younger generation,” she said. “And my game gives the kids more trouble than the older players, believe it or not.”
Her colleagues on the circuit call her the Legend, and it’s an appropriate moniker given the sheer drive and determination the one-time basketball and tennis coach still has. She told the Wall Street Journal that she took a temporary hiatus from the sport primarily due to a lack of funds and needing to go back to work to self-sponsor her tennis aspirations.
And Falkenberg has no plans to stop. “I’d love to be playing—and win—at 70,” she said. “I’m six months away from that.”
She would go on to lose to American Taylor Townsend in the next round, but remained cheerful following that loss. The feat is even more staggering given she did not have formal training in the sport, and was entirely self-taught in her earliest brushes with the sport.
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