Malibu residents and Malibu Racquet Club members Donald Desfor and Armin Dolin will compete in the International European Super-Seniors Championships tennis tournament in Portschach, Austria beginning Sunday. Competitiors in the tournament must be at least 80 years old. Dolin turned 80 in January and Desfor will be 81 on July 5.
Dolin is a retired insurance executive and former teaching pro at the Hillcrest Country Club, where his students included many of Hollywood’s top celebrities, executives and their families. Dolin also was one of the founders of the Mulholland Tennis Club. His wife, Renate, recently retired as an international sales executive.
Desfor is a professional photojournalist, magician and former professor. He co-directed and promoted the first women’s professional tennis tournaments with Billie Jean King and her then-husband Larry, and edited a woman’s tennis magazine and tournament programs. His wife, Sue-Carol, is co-owner of Malibu Surplus, a consignment company.
Prior to the tournament, the men will practice on clay at the Kronenberg Tennis Club in Germany, where the Dolins have a home. Malibu Racquet Club manager Erik Blackmore said Californians play on hard courts and need to adjust to clay, the normal surface for players from Europe and elsewhere. He said the Malibu Racquet Club in the future plans to convert one of its hard courts to clay.