[Nathaliia]

no wonder 60 yo Fibak wants to play indian wells

watch him in top 10 next year

[Juz78]

Originally Posted by Litotes

At the moment, there are 27 players 30 years or older in the top 100, 21 are ranked 101-200 and 5 are ranked 201-250. This includes those that have already retired, like Roddick and Ferrero. Even if we took away all 53 of them the best teens would still be ranked much lower than they traditionally have been.

That is a very interesting stat, that nearly 1 out of 3 top 100 players are 30 or older really says something. Shows that endurance really is one of the most important factors these days. I blame all the grinders coming through... it really is grind-city these days!

[duong]

Originally Posted by Juz78

That is a very interesting stat, that nearly 1 out of 3 top 100 players are 30 or older really says something. Shows that endurance really is one of the most important factors these days. I blame all the grinders coming through... it really is grind-city these days!

Statistically, it's much more obvious that young players have a huge difficulty to emerge than old players having peculiar success.

There's a specific phenomenon these days because in terms of numbers of good players, 1981 generation was esp. good.

But I agree with you that contrary to what some think, the ones who seem to play better at an older age are rather grinders than other kinds of players.

[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by duong

But I agree with you that contrary to what some think, the ones who seem to play better at an older age are rather grinders than other kinds of players.

Not necessarily; Blake is not a grinder, Stepanek is certainly not a grinder, Haas, Benneteau, Youzhny, there are quite a few names 30 yr or older doing well there.

[duong]

Originally Posted by Time Violation

Not necessarily; Blake is not a grinder, Stepanek is certainly not a grinder, Haas, Benneteau, Youzhny, there are quite a few names 30 yr or older doing well there.

I meant overall and I rather thought of lower ranked players, if you want examples I thought of Ramirez-Hidalgo, Eschauer, Hernandez, Luczak ...

It's an impression I've had and which I meant to say because I always read that you can't have a long carreer if you grind a lot, which is what people seem to say about Nadal and sometimes about Djokovic. When I look at lower-ranked players, this doesn't seem obvious at all.

Besides, it can surely also help to have a great knowledge of the game and a style not common in young generations, as Haas or Stepanek or Benneteau have. Clearly young generations often have problems do deal with kinds of play which they're not used to, and that's something which these old players (also Federer) can use.

My general opinion : to last long, it's good to have a good backhand (when you move less well, it helps that you don't have any weak side), great work ethics, a good knowledge of the game and variety ... but I think that you can perfectly be someone who has little power and doesn't make a lot of winners : when I speak of grinders I also think of this usual opposition on MTF between grinding and power.

[Juz78]

Originally Posted by duong

There's a specific phenomenon these days because in terms of numbers of good players, 1981 generation was esp. good.

I think it's also harder these days to make it simply due to expenses, lack of tournament money in the lower divisions etc. You almost have to come from a wealthy family to even have a chance. I'm friend's with John Millman's sister and apparently he's barely surviving even now, loses money most tournaments... let alone when he was younger.

They are all struggling... tennis is actually in a bad way outside of the established.

[bouncer7]

Originally Posted by duong

3. Haas is an exception, and an exception is not a rule except for people who are very eager at convincing at all costs.

Haas is top20 and you whining about top250!

Are Stepanek, Benneteau, Fish, Hewitt, Falla and bunch of others exceptions?

Why does Jan Henrych look like physical monsters compare to youngsters?


Djokovic and Nadal push bars so high to the level of GOAT tennis, and all other players must follow, trying to adapt, no matter how much they are old. Older players are more in a game, adapting through years and that is why they are better and look what is result when you put some random youngster in this the STRONGEST era to play. Vesely would have been top 30 in fedmug era


STRONG era - no 20 y/o in top 250
WEAK era - bunch of youngsters in top20

Fedmug era - Murray, Djokovic, Nadal, Gasquet,delPotro, Berdych, list no ends... and all in top20 wait,some of them winning Slam and were top5. Bars from fedmug era were too low that even stunted youngsters were not having any problems to deal with it.

[duong]

Originally Posted by bouncer7

Haas is top20 and you whining about top250!

yes, because one needs big numbers to make stats

[Time Violation]

Originally Posted by duong

It's an impression I've had and which I meant to say because I always read that you can't have a long carreer if you grind a lot, which is what people seem to say about Nadal and sometimes about Djokovic. When I look at lower-ranked players, this doesn't seem obvious at all.

Dunno, I've heard that many times, but never made much sense to me, except gymnastics there's practically no sport out there where a 25-26 yr old player is expected to be "washed up" and ready to retire, grinding or no grinding.

[Ben D.]

teens are busy training with Pierre Ludovic Duclos.

[Roger the Dodger]

Originally Posted by Slasher1985

Jiri Vesely will be 242nd next week and has made another ATP point (for now) this week.

This is reaching! Vesely is ranked 206 now but he'll be 20 in four months!

However, the real 'teen' still in his wonder years is 17 year old Nick Kyrgios ranked 324.

How's Vesely's game anyways? Any promise?

[TennisOnWood]

Originally Posted by Roger the Dodger

This is reaching! Vesely is ranked 206 now but he'll be 20 in four months!

However, the real 'teen' still in his wonder years is 17 year old Nick Kyrgios ranked 324.

How's Vesely's game anyways? Any promise?

We will see this year on Challenger circuit, he mastered Futures well

[Marcoo]

Wow what is Kei Nishikori doing down there !! As I remember he used to be much much higher, If not the top 20. The low amount of young players in Top 100 is not bringing us a good future, I think But what to do.

[Wing Man Frank]

People talk about how physical the game has supposedly become, but is that really the reason?

I saw an incredibly unfit Murray reach the third round of Wimbledon at 18, Nadal had won RG at 19, Novak was putting some good performances as well yet the current crop of youngsters couldn't beat their way out of a paper bag.

We are truly blessed to have four brilliant tennis players. Once they retire I have no idea what state the game will be in.

In the space of 4-5 years are we really to believe it's become impossible for a teenager to break through?

[Kyle_Johansen]

The game is more physical than it was in 2005-2007.

Give it a year or two and I think the younger guys will start to come through.