The incredible story of the 88-year-old “grandmother” who continues to play tennis

Athlete, active woman, mom and grandmother, Ana Obarrio is an 88-year-old Sanisidrense who stands out in professional tennis competitions and tournamentsthat is to say, it has nothing to envy those who today remain in the world rankings of sport.

His curiosity for this activity began in his adolescence. At that time his father was a faithful fan of tennis and practiced it constantly. It was on one of those occasions that Obarrio she felt the desire to try the sport and see how far it would take her. Years later, already in 1948, she was federated as a professional tennis player and those days that he trained at the San Isidro Club were in the past. She was already prepared and eager to launch herself into high competitions, but there was something that stopped her.

Being an 18 year old she interrupted her passion for another: she decided to follow her man and start a family with him. Years passed, decades they even had children, and today Obarrio has 38 grandchildren. Only when he was widowed was he encouraged to start playing tennis again.

Before deciding, a friend had told her “You are playing very well, sign up for the championships”, and from then on she did not stop. “When I walk on the court I feel like I’m dancing balletI did not lower my arms and followed the impulse of my desires”, he says.

“In sports you learn a lot about life, to compete, to lose, to win, it is something that gives you energy, pleasure, well-being. It’s not just physical it has a mental part that is very important, it makes you activate your neurons, you have to be prepared to make decisions and react quickly and that prepared me for life,” says Obarrio.

A strong believer in the phrase “I go where life takes me”, the 88-year-old tennis player was presented with a unique opportunity that took her back to her beginnings and decided to bet again on a sport that made her happy as a teenager.

“Tennis has a lot of strategy, you have to observe how the opponent moves, where you have to send it, it’s not just hitting the ball. It happens to me that when I win I feel very happy for what I achieve, it is the response to my effort and when I lose I think how to win next time, how I can improve”, he confesses.

Asked by Dolores Pasman, a journalist for LA NACION and moderator of the panel, about how she does sports when she is tired or how she manages the physical intensity of said activity, Obarrio tells something unexpected: “If I’m tired I go to play, tennis makes me feel better, it gives me a lot of energy, it doesn’t tire me at all, it activates me”.

Advice from Ana Obarrio for older adults who are afraid of sports:

10 or 15 years ago he started traveling and he never stops seeing the world. She traveled in a balloon, in a helicopter and met personalities from other countries. “Tennis opened up the world to me,” she says. Today I know is preparing to compete in Mallorca next yearfor that she trains daily and not to lose the fun, she plays with her friends.