[Navratil]

It's obviously part of the demographi change: People are getting older and they stay young, fit and healthy much longer than they did 20 years ago. Another reason is probably that people know much more about health, nutrition and fitness than in the past.

Well Nadal, Murray, Djokovic & Del Potro are in their early twenties but did you notice how many players are in their early thirties?

I just had a look at the German Top 10 (all Top 100-players):
1. Haas (31)
2. Kohlschreiber (25)
3. Kiefer (32)
4. Becker (28)
5. Zverev (21)
6. Petzschner (25)
7. Beck (23)
8. Phau (29)
9. Schüttler (33)
10. Greul (28)

That makes an average of 28 years!

Wasn't there a time not long ago when players used to retire in their mid-twenties?

It's even more remarkable looking at the doubles-rankings. There is only one player under 30 in the top ten!
The rest could play senior tour!

1. Bryan (31)
1. Bryan (31)
3. Nestor (36)
4. Zimonjic (33)
5. Dlouhy (26)
6. Paes (36)
7. Knowles (37)
8. Bhupathis (35)
9. Moodie (30)
10. Ullyett (37)

Makes an average of 33 years in the top ten!

What will the rankings be like 2030? Will the average age be 33 in the singles top ten?
Martina Navratilova played until she was almost 50. Will Federer break that record?

By the way: There is a german actor - Johaness Heesters - who is 106 years old and still acting! He even played in a huge cinema movie this year: "1 1/2 Ritter – Auf der Suche nach der hinreißenden Herzelinde".
Will we have tennis pros in that age one day in the future?
Who will be the first male Navratilova? What do you think?
Is it good for any kind of sport to have all the old stars around as long as they are competitive?

[Horatius]

You do know that there are/were former male tennis players who played in their forties...

[michellej]

Players are playing longer also because there is a large amount of money in professional tennis. For example, Daniel Nestor,age 37 has made an average of 440,000 per year as a doubles specialist (and some singles early in his career) in earnings alone, + endorsements, etc. He's going to play until he collects Canada Pension.

There are very few jobs that pay this king of money after retirement to an ex tennis player.

[stebs]

Everyone is getting older and older.

The singles thing isn't really true. There hasn't been a time in tennis when a large majority of players were retiring in their mid twenties and the current average age in top 10 and 20 is fairly normal I think. A tennis players life span tends to be starting from around 18-20 and finishing, maybe, a dozen years later. Obviously this is a rough average, each player will be different.

[HKz]

This doesn't really apply to tennis. While the human population has seen longer longevity, the gap between how strong and fit youngings compared to their older counterparts have spread quite drastically in sports. Back in the day, virtually no one seriosuly lifted weights for their main regimine except for the obvious sports that required bulk or strength such as the no brainer strong man competition, body building and American football. But sports like basketball, golf, tennis, etc did absolutely nothing what it does today. Now everyone trains like a body builder and obviously a 20 year old body is a lot fresher than a constantly used up 30 year old even though there is only a 10 year difference.

I don't think you have really read up on the history of tennis. In the past it wasn't as uncommon as it is today to have 30 years go far deep into the tournament. For example, Jimmy Connors came back from 2 sets to love against Aaron Krickstein at age 39 to reach the semifinals or Rod Laver winning 45 titles after age 30 and at one point was even number 4 in the world at age 36. The few "old man runs" I can think of was Jonas Bjorkman when he had a terribly easy draw at Wimbledon 2006 while he was aged at like 31 or 32 he reached the semis and also Pete Sampras's USO win at age 32. Other than that, it has been quite the young man's sport.

[Goldenoldie]

Nonsense. Ken Rosewall was in the top 20 at age 43, and that was 30 years ago.

These days players are getting younger, not older.

[JolánGagó]

Crap thread.

Everyone is getting older and older, not only tennis players.

[gulzhan]

The main reason is that the Earth rotates much quicker and one year/day/minute/second is much shorter now than even 10 years ago

[StatRacket]

The average age of the top 100 have increased from about 25.25 years in the mid 90s to a record (since August 1994) 26.88 years last month (click here for full article and graph).

The increasing nature of this statistic is mainly due to there being less young players (under 21) at the top. Until last year, there was at least one teenager in every year end top 100 since ATP rankings began in 1973. The 2009 year end ranking had not a single teenager, furthermore, not a single 20 year old.

Please discuss why you think the average age of the top 100 is increasing. Is it simply a deviation from the mean or perhaps a weaker younger generation? Another reason could be that the courts are, in general, slower than before and hence more endurance (which usually comes with age) is needed to win matches

My three part article on age and ranking also looks at the average age players achieve their career high and the youngest players to crack the top 5, 10 and 100. I also discuss the average age top players reach certain ranking milestones. For example, on average, number ones (since Edberg) entered the top 500 before turning 17 (16.86) and reach the top 100 before adulthood (17.94).

[Smoke944]

I have often wondered this myself. Very interesting, thanks

[Ibracadabra]

Could be a number on reasons but i suggest great knowledge of how the body works and how it is fueled leads to longer game span of players.

[Action Jackson]

Different kind of game now, plus the younger generation aren't as good, so this gives hope to the older players on the circuit to hang around.

Tennis is a speed endurance sport and with the physical part taking over to a greater extent than previously, it takes longer to get the balance right in that particular field.

Or the MTF scientific diagnoses they are all mugs.

[Tutu]

yeah. There don't seem to be many younger players blazing their way into the top 100 anymore. Ibracadabra, that's a good point too. The WTA's top 100 is getting older too (I know you all hate it but it's relevant here ) so that would certainly support the idea that it's down to the increasing use of science in tennis.

[Arkulari]

it's a weird thing, but the guys of the older generations, the ones who were taught different things other than the standard hard and harder game (Roger, Hewitt, Duck, Mosquito, Legenda etc) have flourished again in the last year or so

Most of the younger, more physically powerful younger players seems to be made of glass, break so easily and a lot of top players are getting injured left and right, seems like they are just focussed on developing "external" (show-off) muscle but their technique and physical training isn't what it should be

the younger players in the top 50 are Cilic and Juan, right? and they both will be 22 this year, so it's a matter of the fact that most old guns are hanging in there and the youngsters cannot keep up with them

see Murray's example at the AO, he's one of the guys who has one of the most extensive physical training of all the young guns and yet he looked exhausted at the third set TB in the final against Roger, I know it's also about their type of game, but shouldn't he be able to keep up with him for as long as it takes?

it's really a weird thing

[abraxas21]

It seems to be clear that the younger generations don't seem to be good enough to compete with the current field as well as it happened in the past. The question is why.