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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
"Warns competition"? Lmao. Please tell me you're trolling with this headline. It remains painfully obvious that De Minaur simply isn't a Slam contender. Hell, Alex would need a plethora of injury luck just to win a single Masters 1000 event in his career.
LeylahsLegion77 LeylahsLegion77 il y a 12 heures
Retire!!! Jeez!
ad6771 ad6771 il y a 16 heures
Too bad that the TOTAL counts.......beside many other "countings". :)
StAdam StAdam il y a 1 jour
Idemooooooooo GOAT
StAdam StAdam il y a 1 jour
EVERYONE "hopes" to win a medal... Rafa has no chance,neither does Novak. Those days are OVER.
Fred Phoesh Fred Phoesh il y a 1 jour
Sara Errani? She's as old as Nadal and like Nadal, lost a step or two. Interesting choice.
SH321 SH321 il y a 1 jour
Top des commentaires comments
Go Katie to defend your title!!
2 thumb_up
Kurapika K. Kurapika K.
Hopefully Katie 🇬🇧, has had time to recover from her semi final earlier today & will be able to successfully defend her title from 2023 & lift the trophy once more ✌️
2 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane
Congrats & extremely well played Jack 🇬🇧, a good comeback after loss of 1st set, to seal the victory & collect your 1st ATP 250 title & trophy 👏 👏👌
2 thumb_up
Aladdin Sane Aladdin Sane
"Warns competition"? Lmao. Please tell me you're trolling with this headline. It remains painfully obvious that De Minaur simply isn't a Slam contender. Hell, Alex would need a plethora of injury luck
1 thumb_up
LeylahsLegion77 LeylahsLegion77
Korda win
1 thumb_up
Indian Tip Indian Tip