A racquet of a lifetime

Judy Louie wants to play tennis until she’s 100.

At the rate she’s going, with her determination and will, she very

well could reach the century barrier, racquet in hand.

Louie, a Newport Beach resident since 1984, recently turned 60 and

is still swinging the strings with full force. She has competed in

countless tournaments throughout her life, playing both singles and

doubles.

Recently, however, her knees have been giving her trouble, as she

has talked about seeking surgery.

Even still, she plans to keep playing for years to come, even if

it’s just doubles, she said.

“I told myself that I was going to play to 100, until when I got

it right,” said Louie, who helped the United States finish second in

the Maureen Connolly Cup back in the spring in Perth, Australia.

“Unfortunately, I might have to do it in doubles. I love the game and

I’m very passionate about it.”

In 2001, Louie was a member of the U.S. team that finished first

at the Connolly Cup, defeating Australia in the final.

Throughout her career, she has been crowned doubles champion in

her age division seven times and singles champion three times,

spanning numerous tournaments.

Louie has earned many awards during her tennis career, including

Southern California Tennis Association’s Senior Player of the Year in

1992, among others.

But it’s not the awards, accolades, rankings or finishes that

Louie loves most. The sport provides a release for her competitive

nature.

“I love the competition and feel of working hard, sweating an

hopefully doing well,” she said. “I really enjoy the strategy and

counter strategy that goes on during the matches.”

Louie moved to Newport Beach from Northern California in 1984 to

start a new life, following a divorce, she said.

But her tennis playing days span way back to her roots, in Hawaii,

where she picked up the sport.

Originally a track athlete in high school, her coach talked her

into taking up tennis because “there wasn’t much of a future in track

and field in Hawaii,” she said.

In tennis, however, there was, and she has been playing the sport

competitively ever since.

After high school, Louie attended the University of Hawaii, where

she studied and played tennis. But directly following graduation, she

moved to the mainland and started taking classes at San Jose State

for her teaching credential.

She met her former husband, Yit Louie, through playing tennis at

SJSU and the two married and had two children.

The genes passed on, as her younger son, Casey Louie, went on to

play the sport for Cal Berkley.

Judy Louie, now a member at Palisades Tennis Club, said her most

memorable playing experience, aside from winning the Connolly Cup,

was about 18 years ago at the National Hardcourt championships in San

Diego. Her fingers were cramping up in the final and she wasn’t able

to hold the racquet quite right, she said. But she was able to hold

on and battle back to win the match.

Now she is battling her knees.

“I have almost bone on bone,” she said. “I’m looking at knee

replacement in both knees, but hopefully it won’t come too soon.

There have been other seniors who have done it, so I am hopeful.”

Louie currently teaches tennis in Newport Beach, a profession she

has done for the majority of her life. But it’s playing the game that

she truly enjoys.

And whether she has knee-replacement surgery soon or in the

future, she plans to play until she’s 100.

“[My knees] have got to hold me up until I reach perfection,” she

said.