Written By JAKE COURTEPATTE

At the age of 75, Gisela Nouisser continues to add to her tennis trophy case.

The Nobleton resident returned home from the Steve Stevens Senior National Championships in Montreal last week with both a gold and a silver medal, from the 75+ doubles and singles events respectively. More than 500 players from 40 different categories converged on the city for the event.

Entering the singles event as the third seed following some strong finishes at nationals in the past three years, Nouisser won four straight sets in the round robin to advance to the Saturday final with a perfect record, where a meeting with the tournament's number one seed left her with a silver medal finish.

Paired up with partner Claude Cherniak for the doubles event, Nouisser and Cherniak won Thursday's final match in a marathon, forced to go to a tiebreak in both winning sets to take the gold medal.

Nouisser, who has played with both the Bolton and Nobleton Tennis Clubs since the mid-1970s, took a casual approach to the game until 2015, when she first began to play in sanctioned tournaments.

When the Nobleton club folded years later, she spent her summers honing her craft at the Bolton club and her winters at Veneto in Woodbridge.

It was three years ago when Nouisser decided to rejoin the renewed Nobleton Tennis Club.

“The club is well organize with a terrific bunch of people managing it,” said Nouisser. “Who support me in every step of my tennis achievements.”

Her recent resume has proved to be impressive: she had a win at an International Tennis Federation-sanctioned tournament in North York early this year, and just recently returned from an ITF Cup event in Montreal with a silver medal in her pocket in June.

Other podium finishes in the past three years include a pair of gold and silver medals at the Easter Nationals in Toronto, anf a gold and silver win at the provincials at the Boulevard Club in Toronto.

Not bad for someone who only took up sanctioned tournaments three years ago.

“I only started playing OTA, Tennis Canada & ITF tournaments, because I couldn't find enough ladies to play the singles game,” said Nouisser, who added she has been “lucky to have won all except Nationals.”

Her recent success has also landed Nouisser on a stage she has reached for the first time in her short-yet-illustrious career: she will represent Canada at the Super-Senior World Championships in Croatia, having left for this week-long tournament earlier this week.

Qualification comes from a successful stint at the handful of sanctioned tournaments held throughout the season.

Yet despite her accomplishments, to Nouisser, she is just “an average tennis player who just happens to love the game.”