Editor's Note

TWO YEARS AGO, we ran a story about a man named Fred Kovaleski -- a former CIA agent whose status as an elite international tennis player had been the perfect cover for esp ionage. I was especially interested in something about Kovaleski that was never mentioned: Fred was the No. 1 tennis player in the world -- in the 80-and-over bracket.

An avid player myself, I was in awe of that title, and even more impressed by an octogenarian's ability to keep playing a grindingly physical game. I was telling this to Fred's son, Serge, who wrote the story for us, and Serge said: "You should call him. I'm sure he'd be happy to hit with you."

So it was that I arrived at Fred's Bethesda club, racquet in hand. Fred was the tall, lean, handsome man in tennis whites lounging on the pro shop porch. He had a firm handshake, a steady gaze and that easy way of inhabiting his body common to superb athletes. He could have been 70, instead of 81, which he was then. I wasn't sure what to expect on the court. It was hot, humid, and the sun was directly overhead -- brutal conditions for anyone, but especially, I worried, for an 81-year-old.

I needn't have fretted. He played with ruthless efficiency, hitting the ball to the exact spot, and with the precise spin, that I was least prepared to return. He glided sideline to sideline with apparent ease. Midway into the set, I stopped feeling guilty about trying to make him run. I was breathing harder and sweating more than he was. In the end, I won some games, but lost the set. Then we sat on the porch, icing our knees and chatting about the tennis greats of the past, all of whom he had known, and many of whom he had played.

I thought about Fred when I read the story that begins on Page 10, about the 87- and 89-year-old brothers who are still competing in swim meets. The subtext of the article is that researchers are increasingly amazed at how much exercise can do to improve the health of even the very elderly.

But still, there is always a limit. Fred is nearly 84 now. Looking him up on the Web, I discovered that he had disappeared from the ranking list. Had he finally succumbed to age?

Not hardly. He'd just moved to New York, and hadn't had time to travel to the big tournaments.

"I'll probably play in the national grass court championships in September," he said when I caught up with him. In fact, he's already looking forward to competing for the title in the 85-to-90 age group. And, he notes, the United States Tennis Association just recently sanctioned a championship for a new age group: 90 and over.

Tom Shroder can be reached at shrodert@washpost.com.