Like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, recalled Tuesday in the Swedish selection at the dawn of his 40 years, which he will celebrate on Sunday, other legends of the sport are pushing the limits of time after the milestone of forty.
Tom Brady, 44
The American football icon celebrated his 44th birthday on Tuesday. Brady has won seven Super Bowls, six with the New England Patriots and one, in 2021, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Californian is also the oldest player to be voted MVP (best player) in a Super Bowl following the 31-9 victory over Kansas City in February.
“I feel blessed and ready for the 2022 season !!! “The one who is considered the greatest wrote on Twitter on Wednesday quarterback all time.
Ant, 43 years old
Brazilian footballer Formiga has more than 200 caps since her debut at 17 in 1995. The midfielder has played in no less than 15 clubs, from Sao Paulo to Malmö, passing, among others, through New Jersey and Paris Saint -Germain.
During the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8), she became the first woman aligned in a team sport to participate in seven Olympics.
“I plan to play until I’m 45. I love that. It’s going to be difficult to stop, ”she said in Tokyo, where Brazil was eliminated by Canada in the quarterfinals.
Valentino Rossi, 42 years old
With nine motorcycle world champion titles on the clock, including seven in the premier class (MotoGP), Valentino Rossi announced in early August that he would retire at the end of the current season, after a 26-year career.
The Italian’s last world title dates back to 2009, when he lost his place in the Yamaha team at the end of a 2020 season disrupted by the pandemic and which he finished with a disappointing 15.e place.
He is currently playing his last season with the Yamaha subsidiary team, and is at the 19e place in the ranking.
Serena Williams, 40 ans
Winner of twenty-three Grand Slam titles (7 Australian Open, 3 Roland Garros, 6 US Open and 7 Wimbledon), the American remains one step behind the record holder for Major titles, the Australian Margaret Short (24).
During a career spanning twenty years, she has also gleaned 14 Major titles in doubles, four Olympic titles, including one in singles obtained in London, in 2012, and three in doubles, alongside her older sister. , Venus (2000, 2008 and 2012).
The former world number one, who has fallen to 40th in the world, has not won a Grand Slam since January 2017, at the Australian Open. The last of his 73 titles dates back to January 2020, during the Auckland tournament (WTA 250).
Roger Federer, 40
With twenty Grand Slam trophies (6 Australian Open, 1 Roland Garros, 8 Wimbledon and 5 US Open), the Swiss holds the record for titles in Major with the Spaniard Rafael Nadal and the Serbian Novak Djokovic.
Model of longevity, since his professional debut in 1998, he is the second tennis player, behind Djokovic, to have spent the most weeks (310) in the place of world number one in the history of the ATP ranking, created in 1973 .
Sacred in doubles, with Stanislas Wawrinka, at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the native of Basel has never been titled in singles at the Games, narrowly failing, in the final, against Andy Murray, in London (2012). Knee surgery last August, 9e world will no longer play this season. A third surgical intervention in two years which casts doubt on the rest of his career.
The last of his 103 titles on the ATP circuit dates back to October 2019, at his home, during the Basel tournament (ATP 500).
Gianluigi Buffon, 43 years old
Legend of Juventus, world champion with Italy in 2006, goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is back in Parma, the club of his beginnings, to complete a legendary career.
Since 1995, “Gigi” has spread its presence at the top level over four decades, following in the footsteps of another legendary Italian goalkeeper, Dino Zoff, world champion with the Nazionale at 40, in 1982.
In Parma, he will play in Serie B, the second Italian division. A championship that he has already known during the 2006-2007 season with Juventus, relegated to the Calciopoli affair.
He should therefore not have the opportunity to meet Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will join the club of footballers in his forties in October, a priori still under the colors of AC Milan.
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