by Louise Belcourt
In an era where we all want to stay young and fit, tennis is no exception with the ageless tennis player still outperforming the youth of today. Long gone are the days of a 16 year old Hingis or a 17 year Boris Becker lofting grand slam trophies.
At the Brisbane International both the top women’s player Serena Williams and top male player Roger Federer are aged 32. No spring chickens anymore, but they are still considered difficult if not impossible to beat in this type of event.
The women’s draw features only 3 teenagers including 17 year old Australian Ashleigh Barty and18 year old American Madison Keys. In fact 4 players are over 30, with the most impressive of all being Kimiko Date-Krumm of Japan at 43 years of age.
Young Ashleigh Barty had an emphatic win in front of a home crowd yesterday when she defeated 30 year old Daniela Hantuchova in straight sets. Barty admitted not having watched tennis when her next opponent, Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon as a 17 year old. “Yeah, obviously it’s amazing and she’s such an amazing player. She’s definitely built a reputation of a fighter. I just hope to go out there, and if she does win, hopefully we can have a good match.†When Maria Sharapova was asked in Brisbane why no young players are making a breakthrough Maria answered “Yeah, I’m not really sure what that answer is, because now when people say about somebody young, I actually have to ask them, what is young? I don’t know if that’s 16, 17 or if that’s 19 to 21.â€
Serena Williams at 32 years old has had some of her most successful seasons after the age of 30. In 2012 she won an impressive 58 matches and only lost 4, winning Wimbledon, US Open and Olympic Gold along the way. She backed it up in 2013 with 2 more grand slams and once again became the number one player in the world.
The men’s draw in Brisbane features only one teenager in 17 year old Australian qualifier Thanasi Kokkinakis, who takes on Australian veteran Lleyton Hewitt at 32 years old in the first round. With 7 players over 30 years of age, it appears that the new youthful age is under 25. The youngest player in the men’s worlds top ten is 5th ranked Juan Martin Del Petro at age 25. Other notable young players that would love to topple the older guys include 23 year old Canadian Milos Raonic ranked 11th, 24 year old Japanese Kei Nishikori ranged 17th, and22 year old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov ranked 23rd.
So why has the youth of today not been able to keep up with their older counterparts?
These days the entourage for each player is massive. Long gone are the days when a player travelled solo or just with their parents or part-time coach. Maria Sharapova when she won the Wimbledon title aged 17 in 2004 only had her father in her entourage. At Brisbane she has a new larger entourage, which she described “more like a travelling circus†. She elaborated “we’re all big clowns at the end of the day and have fun what with we do, but we’re very serious and professional. “
The mature tennis player has more money to hire the best in the business including physiotherapists, dieticians, fitness coaches, hitting partners and managing agents. They can focus exclusively on their tennis and the team can ensure a quick physical turn around between matches.
So can the youth of today even challenge the ageless tennis player?
Will we ever see a teenage grand slam champion again?
(PHOTO CREDIT Jayita Belcourt)
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Scoop Malinowski · December 31, 2013 at 7:50 am
Good question. I don’t think a kid can be physical enough to compete with these modern gladiators. Nadal was the last Mohican. Doubt we’ll ever see a kid so physically developed like Rafa at such a young age. Kimiko Date won her first round … that’s just mind blowing that she can still get the job done. Hewitt vs. Kokkinakkis should be very interesting. Nice report Louise.
Dan Markowitz · December 31, 2013 at 6:18 pm
It’s harder, but if we get a LeBron James-like player in tennis, he can still shock the top players.
Scoop Malinowski · December 31, 2013 at 7:01 pm
Nadal was a freak of nature Dan. Tennis is never going to see a physical beast like Rafa who I was in the US Open locker room without a shirt when he was seventeen. He looked like Mike Tyson, who knows what they were feeding lil Rafa as a boy to get that strong looking. Becker was also freakishly strong and developed as a teen, coming from West Germany in the 80s that was the norm. The German’s in track and field sports were very physically developed. These guys are one in a million. I think Federer is going to last many more years, like Kimiko Date. I think Federer loves playing more than any other player out there. That will inspire him to keep going.
Louise Belcourt · January 4, 2014 at 7:16 am
So two 32 year olds will hold the trophy in Brisbane!
32 year old Serena Williams did her job nicely with a straight set powerhouse win over Victoria Azarenka.
And with 32 year old Lleyton Hewitt grinding down the number 2 seed Kei Nishikori and 32 year old Roger Federer just managing to hold on for a shaky 3 set win over number 8 seed Jeremy Chardy, the stage has already been set for a 32 year old male singles winner.
Scoop Malinowski · January 4, 2014 at 8:12 am
At this rate you might be writing about the number 42 in ten years Louise. Remarkable week. Too bad Kimiko Date didn’t join the party. Serena is just a marvel, she hasn’t lost an iota of passion or intensity or hunger, nor has Maria. I can see Serena holding down the fort for as long as Maria keeps pecking at her heels. There is no way on earth Serena will ever let Maria beat her ever again. And I think Maria is going to keep on trying for as long as it takes.