The Baseline Top 5: 35-and-over success stories

The Swiss Indoors Basel announced on Tuesday that its hometown son and 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer has agreed to compete in the tournament through 2019.

The former ball boy for the tournament, who has won the title seven times, will be 38 years old if he really does play the event in two years time. He last won his home event in 2015 over rival Rafael Nadal.

The news begs the question: Just how competitive can a 38-year-old be?

No 38-year-old has won a Grand Slam title during the Open Era (Ken Rosewall was the oldest to claim a major at 37). But 34 men have competed in a Grand Slam main draw after hitting the age of 38.

Here are some of the most impressive performances by players near the end of their careers.

1

Karlovic will turn 38 next week, and he's still going strong, maintaining his place inside the Top 20.

The Croatian showed that he has plenty left to give when he won 22-20 in the fifth set over Horacio Zeballos earlier last month in Melbourne. The match lasted over five hours and it was the 37-year-old who survived. Karlovic would advance to the third round before bowing out to David Goffin.

2

Pancho Segura, 1970 US Open

It is impossible to go through this list without mentioning the oldest player to win a Grand Slam match during the Open Era. A Tennis Hall of Famer, Segura managed to beat Atet Wijono in four sets at the 1970 US Open. His age? A young 49 years old.

Segura was not able to make it past his second round opponent, Modesto Vazquez, falling in five tough sets. But winning a Grand Slam match at 49? No wonder Jimmy Connors, Segura’s protege, would be so inspired.

3

Frank Parker, 1968 US Open

Times were certainly different in the tennis world in 1968, the first year of the Open Era. But playing in the main draw of a major at 52-years-old is impressive nonetheless.

Parker, who won seven total Grand Slams in singles and doubles before 1950, had the tough luck of playing Arthur Ashe, the eventual winner of the tournament, in the first round. He still managed to win seven games in the match, which is not easy to do against a Grand Slam champion at any age.

4

Rosewall was the oldest player to win a Grand Slam title during the Open Era, doing so when he was 37 at the 1972 Australian Open. He would win three majors after turning 35.

Perhaps his 1978 Australian Open was nearly as impressive. Rosewall was 44 when he reached the third round as the seventh seed. The Australian was up two sets to none before eventually losing to Peter Feigl in his final Grand Slam match.

5

It is hard to forget Connors’ magical run at the 1991 US Open, when the American reached the semifinals at 39.

The wildcard entry was down and out in his opening round match against Patrick McEnroe, coming back from two sets down and 0-3, 0-40 in the third set to advance. Two wins later, he was in the fourth round playing Aaron Krickstein. This time, on Connors’ 39th birthday, the crowd favorite went down 2-5 in the fifth set. Again, he found a way to win.

While Connors did lose to Jim Courier in the semifinals, his performance would cement his run in history.

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So the moral of the story here is: don’t fret too much Federer fans. While 38 may sound old for a tennis player, there are athletes who have competed up to that age and older before, and Federer just so happens to be the greatest of all time, so who knows what he's capable of.