Tennis-Wimbledon-Convalescent crew make their mark in quarters

By Kevin Fylan

LONDON, June 29 (Reuters) - Thank-you notes will be pouring through the letterboxes of orthopaedic surgeons and physios after the walking wounded took over Wimbledon on Monday.

Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Tommy Haas, all players who have spent far more time than they would have liked on the treatment table, rolled back the years to reach the quarter-finals of the grasscourt grand slam.

On a day of "senior moments", they were joined by the 30-year-old Ivo Karlovic, making the last eight of a grand slam tournament for the first time in a 10-year professional career.

With the seasoned Roger Federer and Andy Roddick also winning their fourth-round matches, the only quarter-finalists closer to their roaring twenties than their flagging thirties are Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, both aged 22.

The remarkable names among the "elite eight" are Hewitt, Haas and wildcard Ferrero -- not so much the comeback kids as the recuperating crocks.

Hewitt, the lone Australian in the men's draw, won Wimbledon as a brash 21-year-old back in 2002 and was twice the year-ending world number one.

Those days seem a long time ago now, after toe, rib and hip injuries led to a dramatic slide down the rankings.

His latest Wimbledon campaign seemed to be over on Monday as he fell two sets behind against Czech Radek Stepanek but, helped by a rain delay, he played through a thigh strain to clinch a 4-6 2-6 6-1 6-2 6-2 comeback win.