Brenda Carter

W60-69
Brenda Carter
Tennis
Charleston, S.C.

The key to Brenda Carter's emergence as one of the world's most dominating tennis players in her age group can be summed up in one word: retirement. Not that she's the retiring type.

The International Tennis Federation's No. 1-ranked 60-64 player will credit her passion for the game, good health, God-given talent, and a support network that includes friends and her husband and favorite mixed-doubles partner, Harry. "The game is hugely fun," says Carter, who lives in Charleston, S.C. "It's so invigorating. It's the people who share that same passion that I do. It's such a sport of a lifetime."

A native of Statesboro, Ga., Carter played the only two sports her town offered girls when she was young: tennis and basketball. "If my school had offered eight sports, then I would have played eight," she says.

As an adult, Carter became a math professor at Georgia Southern University, and later an athletic administrator at the school. While there, she continued to play tennis recreationally, at least once a week, and entered several local tournaments. So what, ultimately, brought her back to playing tennis competitively at the national level at age 55? "I retired," she says with a laugh, "and had time to play."

These days, Carter travels the world playing competitive tennis. The week before Thanksgiving, the 61-year-old was flying to Christchurch, New Zealand, to play in the ITF's team and individual World Championships.

In the six years prior, she's compiled an impressive resume that includes being named captain of the U.S. Tennis Association's women's team and claiming numerous national singles and doubles titles. "I would have never, ever have dreamed that, when I was 55, I'd be able to experience these kinds of  things," she says. "First of all, I didn't know they existed. Then I figured out that, if I worked at it, I could compete with these people."

In addition to her husband, Carter credits two Charleston players -- Toby Simpson, the tennis coach at the Citadel, and Diane Fishburne, the world's No. 1 ranked 50-54 player -- with keeping her on top of her game.

She plays often with her husband. When asked directly who wins when husband and wife play against one another, Carter demurs. "Oh, we don't keep score," she answers, revealing a knack for Southern diplomacy to go with a killer instinct on the court.