I stumbled across Super Seniors recently — and to my great delight, it scratched the same itch Gold Balls did years ago. I loved that film, and I was thrilled to discover there’s another documentary that captures the same mix of grit, humor, and heart in senior tennis. Watching these players compete at this stage of life is more than inspiring — it’s a reminder of what’s possible if you keep moving, keep learning, and keep showing up. I especially loved the behind-the-scenes look at their routines, aches, and quiet determination. It gave me fresh ideas on how to train smarter now, so maybe, just maybe, I’ll still be out there competing when I hit their age.
Super Seniors — Where the Game Outlasts the Score
There’s a moment in Super Seniors when an 85-year-old King Van Nostrand steps onto the court like he’s still in his thirties — knees taped, eyes sharp, and grin half-cocked like he knows something the rest of us forgot. That moment captures the entire spirit of the film: the idea that age doesn’t end your game; it just changes the terms of engagement.
Directed by Dan Lobb, Super Seniors (also released as Silver Servers) follows four extraordinary tennis players in their 80s and 90s as they prepare for the ITF Senior World Championships in Croatia. It’s part travelogue, part character study, and part meditation on what happens when sport becomes your lifelong companion — through marriages, losses, surgeries, and triumphs.
Four Players, Four Versions of Perseverance
We meet King Van Nostrand, a legend of senior tennis with more than 40 world titles, who carries himself with the casual swagger of someone who’s seen every forehand known to man. He’s the film’s heartbeat — still competitive, still chasing the next win, but grounded by perspective.
Then there’s Leonid Stanislavskyi, a 95-year-old Ukrainian who trains on cracked courts back home, more grateful than ambitious. For him, playing is a statement — that joy and identity can survive war, time, and physical decline.
Etty Marouani, at 82, brings grace and warmth. A former model turned world competitor, she’s less concerned with winning and more with belonging to something that still gives her structure and purpose. She’s also the emotional anchor of the film — the one who shows how deeply community runs through this sport.
And finally, John Powless, an 87-year-old battling illness, insists on traveling, training, and competing while undergoing chemo. His storyline is quietly devastating, but never tragic. He embodies what’s perhaps the film’s central message: that tennis is less about the scoreboard and more about refusing to stop showing up.
Aging as a Competitive Category
In most sports documentaries, age is a footnote — a “despite their age” qualifier. Here, it’s the entire premise. Watching these players fight through sore hips, eyesight changes, and flights across continents isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about continuity. The camera lingers on their morning rituals — stretching, taping, packing — in a way that makes you realize how much routine itself is part of identity.
Director Dan Lobb doesn’t glamorize them. He just watches. And that’s what makes Super Seniors so powerful. There’s no dramatic soundtrack when they win, no slow-motion collapse when they lose. The film respects the ordinary, repetitive, quietly heroic parts of competition — the ones every senior player knows too well.
What It Teaches About the Game (and Ourselves)
At its core, Super Seniors is a meditation on adaptation.
When you’re 80 or 90, your opponent isn’t just across the net — it’s your own body. Every serve, every step, is a small negotiation between what you want to do and what you still can do. The players know it. They laugh about it. They talk openly about losing power, about fatigue, about the “younger” guys in their 80s who suddenly seem unstoppable.
But they also talk about freedom — the freedom of caring less about perfection and more about connection. There’s something liberating about watching people this age still competing, not to prove something, but to keep feeling something.
For senior players watching, this film hits uncomfortably close to home. It’s a reminder of the quiet recalibrations we all make — how we rethink goals, how we manage expectations, how we define success. In that sense, Super Seniors might be one of the truest tennis films ever made.
Why It Matters Beyond the Court
What makes the film linger isn’t the matches. It’s the in-between moments — the laughter at dinner, the limps leaving the court, the shared understanding that this game has given them more than medals. It’s given them continuity, a reason to get up, pack the bag, and head to the courts again.
For those of us still grinding it out in leagues and tournaments, that’s the mirror. We’re not playing for the hardware, not really. We’re playing because it still makes us feel alive.
Super Seniors shows that the passion doesn’t fade; it just changes tempo. It reminds us that competition, at any age, is both humbling and sacred. Watching these players is like peeking at our own possible future — a little slower, maybe, but still fully in the game.
More Than Matches — It’s a Way of Life
If Gold Balls was a love letter to ambition and camaraderie, Super Seniors feels like a prayer of gratitude. In addition to chasing trophies it’s about holding onto the rituals that keep us human.
By the end, when the closing credits roll over shots of these players packing up for the next tournament, you realize this isn’t only about the final score. It’s about longevity — not just of the body, but of the spirit that refuses to retire.
Tennis, after all, is the only game where love means nothing — yet somehow, in Super Seniors, love is exactly what holds everything together.
Final Thoughts
If you love tennis documentaries that actually get it — the aches, the laughs, the long road trips to matches no one else understands — Super Seniors is worth every minute. You can rent it right now on Amazon Prime, or, if you’re a true tennis nerd like me, just buy it. Trust me, you’ll want to watch it again (and again). After all, half the fun of being a senior player is forgetting where we left our keys — and having an excuse to re-watch something this inspiring.
Check out an excerpt here: Super Seniors Movie Trailer
Want more stories like this? Join the Senior Tennis Unpacked Nation Facebook Group, where players swap match stories, share tips, and laugh about the beautiful madness of chasing improvement at any age. And if you want insider conversations with top coaches and senior champions, don’t miss the Insider’s Playbook Podcast — where we unpack what really helps senior players play smarter, stay healthier, and keep loving the game.
