Ivo Karlovic celebrated his 39th birthday at the end of February but he is dedicated as ever to extend his career as much as possible and give his best every time he steps on the court. The Croatian veteran is by far the oldest player in the Top 100 and that fact is even more important if we know that he is also the eight oldest competitor on the entire ATP rankings list, which is another proof of his amazing longevity. Last night in Houston Karlovic has advanced to his second quarter-final of the season after a 7-5 7-5 win over Denis Kudla (read the match report HERE) his first since turning 39 that earned another age record for him.

Namely, since the beginning of the ATP Tour in 1990 only two players have reached an ATP quarter-final after the 39th birthday, Jimmy Connors and Tommy Haas (he is still in the rankings, standing as the fifth oldest player on the ATP list but he officially ended his career) and they are now joined by Karlovic.

An eight-time Grand Slam champion Jimmy Connors has had a rough 1990 season, struggling with the deteriorated left wrist and almost falling outside from the Top 1000. Nonetheless, the veteran made a great comeback in 1991, improving his ranking and enjoying one of the most epic runs in the Open era at his beloved US Open, celebrating his 39th birthday there while reaching the semi-final, losing to Jim Courier in three sets.

He stayed on the Tour for a few more years and his last ATP quarter-final appearance came in Halle 1995 at the age of 42, a record that would probably never be beaten when we talk about the period since 1990. A former world number 2 Tommy Haas was among the most talented players of his generation but numerous injuries have plagued his chances of achieving an even bigger career and fight for Grand Slam and Masters 1000 titles on a regular basis.

Just like Karlovic and Connors, Tommy was never to be denied and he kept coming back in order to finish his career on own terms. We saw clear signs of his old form in 2013 when he almost cracked the Top 10 at the age of 35, adding two ATP titles to his name and staying in touch with much younger players from the very top of the game.

The problems stormed back upon him back in 2014 and he had a miserable run of injuries in the next two and a half years, playing only a few tournaments and struggling to find the form. The German made one last push in 2017, beating Roger Federer in Stuttgart (as it turned out to be, his final win in a career) to reach the quarters, his first after turning 39 in April to join Connors on that list.

Karlovic is now the third player who notched this achievement and it would be interesting to see his results by the end of the season as he certainly wants to play in the later stages as much as possible, especially on grass and fast hard surfaces.

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