Hanover
That’s because Malley, 86, remains active as an author, teacher and pursuer of his favorite sport, tennis.
“I may be retired from my career, but not from life’s activities,” Malley said.
Ranked No. 90 internationally in his 85-and-over age group, Malley recovered from several injuries this year to qualify for the Super Seniors World Individual Championships in Lake Nona, Fla., earlier this month. The spirited octogenarian went 0-2 in the Sunshine State, bowing, 6-2, 6-3, in the opening round against world No. 2 Adrian Alle, of Australia, before falling 6-3, 6-0, against No. 14 Tom Baron, of Great Britain, in the consolation bracket.
“Disappointing? Yes, but not discouraging,” Malley said at his Berill Farms Lane home this week. “The way I see it, every tournament has at least 16 players, which means there are 15 losers. There are things I can work on fixing for if I ever face either of those two again.”
Using quickness and anticipation to keep pace with Alle through four games on Oct. 14, Malley was tied 2-2 with the Aussie before Alle’s meticulous ground-stroke placement took hold.
“He was very accurate with his shots,” Malley said.
Malley ran into another sharp shooter in Baron, Great Britain’s top-ranked 85-plus competitor.
“He didn’t hit a lot of errors at all,” Malley said. “Sometimes you’re waiting for the other guy to make mistakes, but he didn’t make many.”
Growing up in a working-class family in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., Malley wasn’t introduced to tennis as a child. Football and baseball were his sports of choice, the latter of which he continued playing while a student at Boston University in the late 1940s and early ’50s. Malley also played semiprofessionally for teams in the Boston Park League.
“I played second base, as well as in the outfield,” Malley said. “We had some pretty good teams come in to play us. There were a lot of good players around. In those days, some (Major League Baseball) players would play in semi-pro leagues after the season for extra money. They didn’t have the kinds of contracts that they have today.”
A member of the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Malley went on to enroll in graduate school in Switzerland and later at the Boston area’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. As his career in foreign affairs began to blossom, Malley admitted his reasons for pursuing tennis were largely practical.
“I knew I wanted to stay active, and it’s harder to do that with team sports as you get older,” Malley said. “With tennis, you only need one opponent. You don’t need entire teams. I knew I wanted a sport that I could play for a long time and settled on tennis.”
Wherever Malley’s diplomacy work took him — he was stationed for long stints in Pakistan, Congo and other nations — he found outlets to play. When stateside in the Washington, D.C, area, Malley did well in tournaments within U.S. Tennis’ Mid-Atlantic section, as well as in the New York City area when he later worked for the heavy industry manufacturer Halla Group.
“I’ve always done pretty well in my age group, wherever I’ve played,” Malley said. “I’ve won or been a finalist in a lot of local and regional tournaments.”
Malley, who maintains a second home in McLean, Va., was ranked No. 39 in his age group in November 2015. He was beset by a minor injury last year, then suffered a more serious set of injuries earlier this year while practicing against his oldest of three sons, Keith, in Virginia.
“I had a pretty bad fall on the court. I hurt my head and leg, needed about 30-40 stitches and fractured some ribs,” he recalled.
The accident was a shock for Keith Malley, a Washington attorney, but he’s not surprised his dad recovered in time for the Super Seniors World Championships.
“He’s very competitive, never quits,” Keith Malley said in a phone interview. “(The accident) was a bit disconcerting, but he recovered quite quickly, and I expect him to eventually get to the top 10 in his age group.”
Raymond Malley, who teaches international affairs at Dartmouth College’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, has authored several books about his adventures as a U.S. diplomat. His next work, Cold Waters, will explore the experiences he and his French-born anthropologist wife, Josette, encountered on trips to the Arctic and Antarctic.
No matter how busy Malley remains in other pursuits, he expects to find time for tennis. He’s part of a pickup group that plays twice per week at Dartmouth, and he trains occasionally with pros at River Valley Club.
“I might move a little less rapidly than I used to, but I’m still pretty good,” Malley said. “As long as my physical health allows, I’m going to keep playing.”
Jared Pendak can be reached at jpendak@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.
Correction
Hanover resident Jim Heffernan was the doubles partner of Raymond Malley during a pick-up game on Dartmouth College tennis courts on Oct. 24, 2017. An earlier photo caption with this story misidentified Heffernan.