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The Generation Game: Golden oldie era of Federer, Djokovic and Rafa has tennis rulebook ripped up

Young at heart: Tennis superstars Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in action
Young at heart: Tennis superstars Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in action

The rulebook for men’s tennis has been thrown out of the window. Teenagers don’t win slams anymore. Players don’t retire around the 30 mark, writes Richard Mills.

And, it would appear, these gladiators do not peak in their early to mid-20s – the prevailing view for the last few decades, until now.

For the first time in nearly half a century, the top five seeds at last year’s Wimbledon (Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka) were all 30 or older.

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In the top 100 in the men’s game, 40 of them are 30 or older. The average age of the top 100 is approaching 29. Back in 1990 it was 24.

Federer is world number one and just won his 20th slam at the age of 36. Nadal is the third oldest player ever to hold that ranking at the age of 31. Wawrinka won his last slam in his 32nd year and Murray and Djokovic had their best ever years at the age of 29 and 28, respectively.

So is it about time we dismiss the notion that a player peaks in their mid to early 20s?

Novak Djokovic’s tennis analyst, Craig O’Shannessy, says not only do players peak in their late 20s to early 30s, the likes of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have been playing better than ever.

“This is the best Roger Federer has ever played,” he said.

“He is serving better than ever, 80% and 59% of first and second service points won and his backhand is far better than it was during his ‘peak years’ over 10 years ago. That is why he has been able to dismantle Nadal in a way he never previously could.

Thanks, Unc! Rafa Nadal’s uncle said recently that Roger Federer is a better tennis player than his nephew
Thanks, Unc! Rafa Nadal’s uncle said recently that Roger Federer is a better tennis player than his nephew

“Nadal arguably had his best ever clay court swing in 2017. He won 56% of all points that he played last year, which is the first time he has done that.

“When he won nine out of 10 French Open’s he was winning 56% of all his points, so that shows how well he was playing.

“Novak and Murray all had their best years over 2015 and 2016, when they were 28 and 29 respectively. You don’t just stop improving when you hit 25 – practice makes perfect.”

Martina Navratilova said herself that if you play long enough, you pick up so much more knowledge and feel for the game and while younger guys may have the physical edge, they cannot always compete against the brain.

But could it be that the big four are not actually better than they were in their early to mid-20s, it is just that their competition was not good enough to unseat them, therefore allowing them to continue their success at the top.

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O’Shannessy doesn’t think so.

“There is a big difference between when someone is at their most successful and when someone is at their ‘so-called’ peak,” he said.

“The best way to improve is to play against the best week in and week out. The more you do that over the years, the better you get at it.

“I mean look at Federer finally getting the better of Rafa at 35. Looking at the stats, I believe people are peaking in their late 20s to early 30s.”

But why are the elder statesman hanging around longer than ever before?

“We are seeing the benefit of players having their own physios on tour, expert nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches and the prize money has shot up – that allows you to pay for all of this. This was unheard of a couple of decades ago,” he said.

Still going strong: Roger Federer in Indian Wells as he gets ready to challenge for more honours
Still going strong: Roger Federer in Indian Wells as he gets ready to challenge for more honours

“It is more difficult to break through as a youngster due to the increasingly physical nature of the game, the increased professionalism of the older guys and there have been no changes in technology in a long time.”

The old guard are also able to stick around longer because there have been no great changes in technology for nearly two decades.

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Johnny McEnroe’s touch game became outdated when the super strong, super fit and more powerful players of Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg overtook him in 1985 onwards.

The homogenisation of court surfaces – fast courts became slower – using larger tennis balls and synthetic strings, that the likes of Lleyton Hewitt utilised, killed off serve and volley players.

“The speed of the court is a huge factor. The amount of sand that is put on courts slows it down a lot – you’re seeing that at the US Open especially,” said O’Shannessy.

“The serve slows down, the returner becomes more dangerous as it sits up for them and that has led to what we have now.


“Ideally we should have bigger speed differences to reward different styles and that may help the younger guys coming to the net or staying back.”

But eventually ‘father time’ catches up with us all, apart from Federer, O’Shannessy adds.

“There is a point where a physical game style, like David Ferrer, gets to a point and then you fall off the cliff quicker.

“The key stat to staying at the top is winning those 0-4 shot rallies. Keeping the points short helps with longevity. If you look at who is the best in that rally length, it is Federer.”