Sweet 16 at the French

I've lived without cable TV for so long that I rarely follow tennis anymore. Occasionally, curiosity strikes, and I'll check out some scores. Currently, the French Open is heading into week 2. The two top men's seeds are still on track to meet each other, namely, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

But right now, in the fourth round, there's an unlikely player playing. Swede Jonas Bjorkman. Bjorn Borg ushered in the era of really good Swedes. Following his stellar example, Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Henrik Sundstrom, Kent Carlson, Joachim Nystrom, Mikael Pernforns, Anders Jarryd all played decently good tennis. These days, though, there isn't a top young Swede. Jonas Bjorkman is one of those journeyman pros who plays well enough to get to a fourth round or the quarterfinals, but is old enough to have been among the last Swedes from the era that brought Edberg and Wilander.

Bjorkman was born in 1972. He's reached the semis of Wimbledon last year, a surface better suited to his serve and volley talents, and made the semis of the US Open back in 1997. He's in the fourth round, and he's 35 years old. It's true Jimmy Connors made the semis of the US Open when he was 39 years old (his birthday always fell during the Open). However, no one expects a player that age to win anymore. And let's face it, while Connors goes down as one of the best players ever, Jonas Bjorkman won't have that distinction.

There's something cagey about this veteran player. Of all the players who made it to the fourth round, only three of them were born before 1980. Guillermo Canas of Argentina was born in 1977, when Guillermo Vilas had his best year. Carlos Moya, a very solid Spaniard, as born in 1976. Bjorkman, his fourth-round opponent, was born in 1972.

The vast majority of players were born in 1981-1982, making them about 25 or 26 years of age, which seems to be the peak age for tennis.

Andre Agassi is two years older than Bjorkman, and retired last year at the US Open, though he had been struggling throughout the summer. It's all the more impressive that Bjorkman, who is likely to be forgotten in the history of tennis, can produce this quality of tennis at his age. He's no freak of nature like Martina, who was still chugging along at 40 and continued to play sporadic doubles til she was 50.

So cheers, Jonas. You're the old man of tennis, showing that a crafty Swede can still take it to the young'uns.