A Date with history for veteran Krumm

Paris: In a sport in which you can have an agent and a clothing contract before you go through puberty, and those aged 23 are considered to be middle-aged, most in the locker room probably cannot imagine what it would be like to still be playing at 39, to have achieved what Kimiko Date Krumm has on the red clay of Roland Garros.

Just a few months away from the Big Four-Oh, the Japanese defeated Dinara Safina, a former worldNo 1 and the beaten finalist in Paris for the past two seasons, to become the second oldest woman to win a match at the French Open, behind only Britain's Virginia Wade in the list of clay-smeared golden oldies.

It is usually only those who get their philosophy from the inside of greeting cards who tell you that life begins at 40, but, if Date Krumm said so, you might believe it to be true, after she won her first match in the main draw of a grand slam for 14 years.

To think that Date Krumm first appeared at Roland Garros in 1989, when Safina was three, and when 26 of the players in this year's main draw had not been born.

This was the day that Date Krumm demonstrated that it is not just Belgians who can come out of retirement to make an impact during a second career on the circuit.

In the 12 years between retiring in 1996 and returning to tennis in 2008, she ran marathons, swam, did some television commentary, helped to build a school in Laos, and tried unsuccessfully "to make a baby" with her husband, a German racing driver called Michael Krumm.

Though Date Krumm has never liked the red clay too much, she must be warming to it a little after her opening-round 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory over Marat Safin's baby sister.

"I am very sad for her, very happy for me," said Date Krumm, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 1995.

While everyone in the stands on Court Suzanne Lenglen was remarking on the Japanese's age, her kooky forehand, a shot that would have looked more at home on a ping pong table than on a tennis court, deserved some attention.

Her unconventional style probably stems from her gripping her racket with her 'wrong' hand, as although she is naturally a leftie, she plays right-handed. In Japan, it is not easy being a leftie, as it is considered impolite to hold your chopsticks with your left hand, and Date Krumm's grandfather told her that "it's not ladylike" to play tennis with that hand, so she was persuaded to switch sides.