Gail Falkenberg: I'd love to be playing -- and win -- at 70
— -- Taylor Townsend had an unexpected opponent Monday: Gail Falkenberg, age 69.
Townsend, 19, the top seed, beat Falkenberg 6-0, 6-0 in the second round of qualifying for an International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit event in Pelham, Alabama. But not before Falkenberg won 12 points.
"Taylor, she was hitting spots like crazy," Falkenberg told The Wall Street Journal.
"I know I can keep getting better. There's always something to work on with tennis."
Falkenberg beat Rosalyn Small, 22, in the first round of qualifying in Pelham. Prior to that, her last professional win was in 1998, according to the Journal.
"The Legend," as she is known on the circuit, told the Journal that she played tennis as a walk-on at UCLA in the 1960s and started in pro tennis at age 38. She won a qualifying match at the 1988 Australian Open and on another occasion lost to Jennifer Capriati, then 13, according to the report.
Short on funds, she returned to work, coaching the University of Central Florida's men's and women's tennis teams in the 1990s.
Falkenberg told the Journal that she enjoys competing against the younger generation.
"And my game gives the kids more trouble than the older players, believe it or not," she said.
She has no intention of retiring any time soon.
"I'd love to be playing -- and win -- at 70," she told the Journal. "I'm six months away from that."
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