Tennis is called “the sport of a lifetime” and Al Cirulli is living proof that it is. The 96-year-old plays tennis regularly at the Holmes Beach public tennis courts at 6200 Flotilla Drive and he’s still refining his game.
Cirulli was practicing his serves, forehands and backhands March 12, two courts down from me. I was playing with friend Dave Wischerath, who walked over to retrieve a shanked shot and a few seconds of small talk revealed Cirulli’s age. He’d started playing at 8-9:30 a.m. on the courts with friends and then stayed for another hour with his ball basket, working on perfecting his shots.
He plays “almost every morning” at the courts with friends “who let me play with them.”
Later a conversation with the Yonkers, New York, snowbird revealed he started playing tennis in his 40s — without coaching or lessons — and he is still going strong 50 years later.
“I like the activity of hitting balls and moving around the court,” said Cirulli. Still trying to get better, he started tinkering with a different racket. He prefers the lighter feel of a Head Tsi6 than his Wilson Sledgehammer 2.8.
Does Cirulli have a favorite player? “Roger Federer. He can do everything, attack, volley, play offense, defense, he was my idol.”
After nearly three hours on the court, the left-hander stayed to hit some balls with Wischerath and me. He also invited us to hit again another morning.
“I’m here almost every morning,” he said before departing.
Head to the courts and check out the moves of this 96-year-old tennis player. It’s just one of the awesome sights you can see on our island paradise.
— Mark Scoop Malinowski