Seniors tennis success is super for Ornstein

Following his selection earlier in the year, the Chichester Racquets & Fitness Club member has just returned from Antalya, Turkey, where he participated in his first-ever super seniors team and individual event.

It involved more than 650 players from all over the world in the age ranges from 60-plus to 85-plus.

Orstien was ranked four in the 65-plus GB team and wasn’t expecting to play many live rubbers in the team event but GB’s top two sustained injuries.

This meant Ornstein and the No3 player had to play both singles and doubles for the rest of the team competition.

Ornstien played three live singles rubbers, winning two and losing the other match only in a close third-set tie-break.

He played four live doubles rubbers, winning three of those with a partner with whom he had never been paired with before.

In the end, GB finished a very creditable 12th out of 23 teams.

In the individual world championship events, severe thunderstorms played havoc with the match schedule and some events were not completed.

One of these was the 65-plus mixed doubles, in which Orstien and his partner Rosemary Wilson, a member of the GB ladies’ 65-plus team, reached the semi-finals by beating the number-two seeds in the quarter-final.

The storms that subsequently followed meant no further play was possible. All four pairs who had reached this stage were awarded bronze medals and the prize money was split.

Ornstien and Wilson felt they’d had a real chance to win their semi-final and play off for gold or silver – but that will have to wait for another year.