The common sports enthusiast would say you’re not too late to the party if you put together your best season at 29 years old.

But in modern professional tennis, that’s like showing up to the party after the cleanup has begun.

Former UCLA men’s tennis player Marcos Giron reached his first ATP final in San Diego earlier this month, ultimately coming up just shy of the singles title. But the current world No. 62 ascended to a career-high No. 49 in the ATP singles rankings earlier this year in his ninth season on tour.

“I always believed in myself. I always believed when it mattered,” Giron said. “On tour, you absolutely need that. It’s so critical because the margins are so small, and if there’s any big points you play with any hesitation or self-doubt, it’s just not going to work out.”

Giron’s biggest season to date – with his 30th birthday on the horizon – comes at a time when young stars are smashing the walls erected by legends that once stood for decades. Nineteen-year-old Carlos Alcaraz stands at the top of the ATP singles rankings fresh off his maiden Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, while the WTA’s No. 8 player, 18-year-old Coco Gauff, reached her first Grand Slam final at the French Open earlier this year.

Even within the trio of UCLA men’s tennis alumni currently residing in the top 100 – Maxime Cressy, Mackenzie McDonald and Giron – Giron is the eldest statesman.

Yet coach Billy Martin, who guided Giron during his playing days in Westwood and worked alongside Giron when he served as a volunteer assistant coach in 2015-2016, said the former Bruin isn’t working against time quite like tennis players of the past.

“It’s a little bit late at 29, but (Roger) Federer and these guys have shown us you can easily play to 35,” Martin said. “He (Giron) takes care of himself so well. He’s so physical, and I know he’s got a little taste of success now, and I expect him to be around for hopefully another four, five, six years.”

Giron’s route to become an ATP finalist hasn’t been a rapid one, but it started out hot.

Hailing from Thousand Oaks, California, Giron graduated high school as the No. 1 recruit in the nation and elected to take his talents to Westwood.

The highly touted freshman finished the 2011-2012 campaign with a 27-7 singles record, good for the No. 69 spot in the final ITA singles rankings and an All-Pac-12 honorable mention. A year later, he would go on to match that win total while climbing to No. 13 in the rankings and earning an All-Pac-12 First Team selection.

His junior season featured an achievement only one UCLA tennis player has matched since.

Giron became the 11th NCAA singles champion in program history, polishing off a 30-5 record across tour and dual-match singles play. The ITA National Player of the Year’s crown-clinching victory earned him a wildcard into the 2014 U.S. Open as he simultaneously accumulated All-American and unanimous All-Pac-12 First Team honors.

Though his championship pedigree at the collegiate level has yet to translate to a title on the pro tour, Giron said his current approach stems from what he learned from being at the top of his game in college.

“In order for me to be an NCAA champion, with all the coaches and training, I was always focused on what I was working on at hand – and the byproduct was winning,” Giron said. “It’s easy to get caught in the winning and losing, but really it’s the day-to-day work. It’s the daily focus, the very clear, focused plans and clear intent, and what I do in the important moments that matters most.”

Opting to forgo his senior season with the blue and gold in favor of going pro, Giron opened the 2014 season ranked No. 567 in the world – hundreds away from the top 100 but still carrying the promise that comes with any NCAA singles champion.

Two hip surgeries for on-and-off hip pain derailed any hope of Giron quickly scaling the ladder to the top.

Giron would spend the majority of his first six years on tour working his way back from injury, fighting through challenger events and playing in qualifying draws in order to scratch the main draws at majors.

“It sucks for me because looking back, I wish it didn’t take so long for me to make it to the top 100,” Giron said. “But I also think that it does make me appreciate being here and not take it for granted. I know how hard of a journey it is.”

But on Aug. 31, 2020, Giron cracked the top 100, and he hasn’t dropped out of the pack ever since.

As the 2022 season comes to a close, the man who once donned the blue and gold will have time to look back on the deep tournament runs and notable upsets he now has to his name. Giron knocked off the now-world No. 8 in fellow American Taylor Fritz en route to a semifinal finish in Dallas and reached the round of 16 in Rome after upending then-No. 15 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

No. 33 Cressy and No. 79 McDonald accompanied their fellow UCLA alumnus to the career-high singles ranking party, reaching highs of No. 31 and No. 48, respectively. They now await Giron to join them at the first ATP title festival.

Whereas Cressy’s serve-and-volley style of play and McDonald’s movement have given each of them an edge, Martin pointed to Giron’s physicality as a key aspect of his game.

“I’ve talked to some other players and other coaches that have been out there watching him, and he can go five sets,” Martin said. “Whether it’s majors or long three sets, he can be just as physical at the end of the match as he is at the beginning of the match.”

But amid his career year, Giron has notched a 15-25 singles record and didn’t make the second week at any of the four Grand Slams. In the time spanning the ATP Masters 1000 events at Indian Wells and Madrid, he fell in the first round at seven consecutive tournaments.

Ending up on the wrong side of a final score was an adjustment that Giron said he focused on as he moved from college to the pros.

“One of the things that took the longest about going on tour is learning how to lose, and when you lose, how to take away the positives,” Giron said. “I’m happy with my ability to just keep on going and to, every time I play a match, give myself the belief and confidence that I can win, and to know that my level’s there.”

Though he came as close as he ever has in San Diego, Giron remains in search of his first pro title.

But if the former Bruin’s recent efforts are merely foreshadowing, maybe cleanup time is further away than tennis fans think.