Mumbai, Jan. 24 -- Not all swansong seasons in tennis have to be about flowing tributes, moving speeches and glowing flashback montages. Sometimes they can simply be about what the player represents: a battle-hardened warrior still up for an unwavering fight over a farewell wave. Three hours, 11 minutes and two sets to one down into his Australian Open second-round slugfest with a Frenchman nearly half his age, 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka had a set point to stay afloat. Arthur Gea's serve down the T was met with a chipped return, which Gea smacked for an inside-out forehand. Deep behind the baseline, Wawrinka sprung a few steps to his left, bent both his burdened knees from over 20 years of the pro grind, and unleashed a single-handed backhand that whizzed past his onrushing opponent and kissed the sideline. His right index finger placed on the temple, Wawrinka was doing Wawrinka things. For a fleeting moment then one's mind may have been transported 12 years back, when Wawrinka won the Australian Open for his first Grand Slam beating Rafael Nadal in the final with that game and grit (and the one-handed backhand) in its prime. The game may have since lost a bit of zing, but not the grit, as the Swiss showed in a classic 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (10-3) win against the 21-year-old qualifier on those same Melbourne Park courts - albeit a smaller one compared to the 2014 final - on Thursday. After four hours and 33 minutes, the marathon man of modern tennis broke a 48-year record to become the first player aged 40 or above to reach the third round of a Slam since Ken Rosewall at the 1978 Australian Open. Stan is the marathon man, not just because he has the most number of five-set wins by any player in the Open Era. Also because he continues to pull every last drop from his reserves to keep pushing and adding to that tally even in the last lap of his race. "It's my last Australian Open, so I'm trying to last as long as possible," said Wawrinka, who'd announced earlier that this 25th season as a pro would be his final. "I'm always going to fight, I'm always going to leave everything on the court, always trying my best, trying to push myself." These are words that have defined Wawrinka's career through the years, over and above the three Slams that he took home in an utterly dominant era of the Big Three in men's tennis as a rare rival to have defeated Nadal and Novak Djokovic in finals from 2014 to 2016. These are words that also defined Wawrinka's 2026 Australian Open second round. After rallying to level up at two sets all, the fifth set and the match tiebreak alone went on for over an hour. At various points in it, both players had multiple openings but neither managed to take it. At 40, with all those minutes spent (Wawrinka's first-round win lasted three hours and 20 minutes), the opportunities missed could come back to bite. Yet, even if Wawrinka was feeling the pinch physically - "probably started to cramp at the end," Wawrinka said later - he wasn't showing it. Instead it was the 21-year-old that looked cooked, and hampered in the knee, as the deciding set wore on. And so in the 10-point match tiebreaker, featuring deft volleys and clever lobs from his racquet, Wawrinka served a masterclass ending to his latest marathon finish. It summed up why Wawrinka has a better win percentage in best-of-five major matches, and an Open Era high 31-27 record in his 58 five-setters. "I have good confidence on my fitness levels, that I can handle those long matches, stay at that level," said Wawrinka of his five-set mastery. "Just pushing myself, pushing myself through. Physically and mentally." At the end of it, Wawrinka was "exhausted". Yet he is never tired of "pushing" himself. Not even at 40. Not even after falling to 139 in the world rankings from a career-high No.3 in 2014. Not even after having a poor 2025 of 4 wins and 13 losses on the tour including second-round defeats in lower-rung Challenger events. This three-time Slam champion had decided to stop this season. Yet not stop "pushing" for a ball, a point, a game, a set in every contest he'd turn up for. It's what he did against Gea. Even if 9th seed Taylor Fritz up next might be a challenge too stiff after the quick turnaround from this long tussle, the opening Slam in his final season has already been an apt reflection of the marathon man's career. "It's a feeling that is tough to describe," said Wawrinka, "but it's the reason why, at 40, I'm still pushing myself, pushing the limit."...