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Age barrier for Nadal? Three 40-something trailblazers
© afp.com/Adrian DENNIS

Age barrier for Nadal? Three 40-something trailblazers

Published by , Sunday 05/26/24 12:55

Rafael Nadal has not "100% closed the door" on extending his career despite his 38th birthday fast approaching and with his ranking having slipped to an injury-impacted 275 in the world.

Whether or not he adds to his 22 Grand Slam titles at the French Open, where is a 14-time champion, remains to be seen but plenty of players have continued to defy time.

AFP Sport looks at three men who blazed a trail that Nadal could yet still follow:

Roger Federer

-- Nadal's rival and close friend Federer played until he was 41, closing the door on his career at a teary Laver Cup in London in 2022. In an emotional moment courtside, Nadal even grasped the hand of the great Swiss whose collection of 20 Grand Slams has since been exceeded by Novak Djokovic's 24 and the 22 of Nadal.

The last of Federer's majors came at the 2018 Australian Open when he 36 years, five months and seven days old.

Ken Rosewall

-- Australia's Rosewall remains the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title, capturing his eighth major at the 1972 Australian Open when he was 37.

Rosewall was 39 when he lost the 1974 finals at Wimbledon and the US Open to Jimmy Connors.

He eventually retired from the sport in 1980 just before his 46th birthday at an indoor tournament in Melbourne while his last two titles were won when he was 43 in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Jimmy Connors

-- The flamboyant and combative Connors won eight Grand Slam titles in his career, only retiring in 1996 at the age of 43.

His longevity allowed him to claim 109 titles which is still a men's record.

The American also made his mark in 1991 when he went all the way to the US Open semi-finals at the age of 39 despite entering the tournament on a wildcard and with a ranking of 174.

Source: AFP

Latest comments comments
Change is always good.
B Ravi kumar B Ravi kumar il y a 9 heures
Everyone will have there GOAT. Mine will always be Nadal. So glad I had the opportunity to watch him for almost his entire career
sdholly5 sdholly5 il y a 11 heures
Someone needs reading lessons
bigman27 bigman27 il y a 18 heures
Congratulation Emma I want you back to top 10 I always love you
Magdywhitecat Magdywhitecat il y a 21 heures
I had a small miniscus tear operated on and was allowed back in the gym and rnning 4 days later so long as I promised to take anti inflammatories and ice heavily afterwards. Back to playing basketball and tennis in two weeks. So it depends on the nature of the injury and surgery.
SH321 SH321 il y a 22 heures
It's the most wonderful tiiiime of the yeaaaar....
cyberpixie cyberpixie il y a 1 jour
Top des commentaires comments
Nicely played Thiago 👏👌
1 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane
LET'S FUCKING GO EMIL! WELCOME BACK TO THE THRONE!! And don't listen to Aladdin..
1 thumb_up
Ossian S. Ossian S.
Everyone will have there GOAT. Mine will always be Nadal. So glad I had the opportunity to watch him for almost his entire career
1 thumb_up
sdholly5 sdholly5
The person who write this article is completely incorrect, or simply ignorant to write the statement "Jannik Sinner is all about himself". Is the writer for real? Jannik is the most decent, humble and
1 thumb_up
Bobo Bobo
Congrats & well played Paul 🇬🇧👏👌
1 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane