Pro Tennis: Is 30 the New 20?
It’s no secret that, in order to compete at the top levels of any professional sport, you need to be in exquisite physical condition. Tennis is a sport in which a single match can require running 10 miles of sprints. The top pros are playing six or seven matches over the span of two weeks at a major event or a match every other day. Imagine running sprints for five hours in the heat of the Australian summer, only to get back out on the court and do it all over again two days later. Throw in the fact that you are traveling to new cities every other week and outside of the competitive matches, need to train and work on your game to remain competitive, it’s no surprise that the career expectancy of many professional tennis players is less than 10 years total. When you start to look at some of the players who are able to stay consistently on top of the game for a dozen or more years, it’s truly an impressive career accomplishment.
At this year’s French Open, half of the men’s singles players who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Roland Garros Grand Slam were over the age of 30 (Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Tommy Haas). While many claim that clay courts are the most advantageous for players of advanced age, it doesn’t make the feat any less remarkable. Of course, everyone knows that Roger Federer is one of the greatest players to ever pick up a racquet, so it may not be to shocking to see that he has continued his success into his 30s, but he is not alone. David Ferrer is a relentless journeyman who has been competing at a top level for over a decade. At the 2013 French Open, he ended his streak of 42 Grand Slams before making a final, for him, 10-and-a-half years of never advancing to a Grand Slam final. He has been ranked in the top 10 since 2006, with the exception of a short period following an injury in 2009. Ferrer fought back from the injury and has now achieved a career-high ranking of number four in the world.
Robredo came out with a bang in his first year on tour, ending the season as the second youngest player in the top 30 rankings to Andy Roddick. That was 13 years ago. Today, he is still in the top 30, and Roddick has since retired.
At the age of 35, Germany’s Tommy Haas is one of the most unique players currently on ATP Tour. Haas is the only player in ATP history to win comeback player of the year twice in 2004 and again in 2012. After seeing Boris Becker win Wimbledon in 1985, he knew he wanted his life to be that of an international tennis star, and told his parents. A few short years later, he was on a plane en route to the United States to move into the boarding houses at Nick Bollittieri’s famed Tennis Academy in Florida. Haas became like a son to Nick, eventually moving out of the boarding house and into Nick’s personal home. Tommy lives up to Nick’s motto of not sweating the small stuff and always having fun. Haas has come back from two major injuries in his career and through three decades, has continued to stun top-ranked players with his great play, beating 11 top 10 players since turning 30. He attributes part of his successful comebacks to his varying regiments in the gym. Whether its weight training, yoga or Pilates, Haas isn’t afraid to try something new to get back into shape after an injury. Both yoga and Pilates strengthen your core and keep your strength well-rounded as it is impossible to keep Yoga poses for long periods with any weak spots. Pilates replaces these weaknesses with strengths over time and creates a well-rounded strong athlete who is ready to compete for long periods of time. He also believes in a great deal of massage therapy to keep the muscles supple and relaxed. Since turning 30, Haas has a winning percentage on the ATP tour of 66 percent, a rate nearly five percent better than it was when he was 29 and younger. One third of Haas’ prize money has come from winnings in his post-30 era. Of his four Grand Slam semifinals appearances, two were beyond 30 (2007 Australian Open and 2009 Wimbledon). With a current ranking of 13th in the world, he is showing no signs of slowing down.
It is not just the men who are seeing this phenomenon of lengthened careers. The WTA has four players in the top 16 who have reached the 30-year mark. Serena Williams, current world number one, Na Li, number six in the world, Roberta Vinci in the 11th position, and Nadia Petrova ranked 16th in the world. Na Li is the only major championship winner from Asia, and she won her French Open title at the age of 29, coming seemingly from nowhere to excel in the pro ranks after age 28. She made two Australian Open finals, at 28 and 30, and shows no signs of slowing down at 31. Most of her career victories have come in the past few years. Vinci has reached the highest ranking of her career, 11 in the world, at the age of 30. In 2012, Vinci won doubles Grand Slam titles with her partner Sara Errani at the French Open and U.S. Open, and in 2013 at the Australian Open. Vinci & Errani are currently ranked number one in the world in the WTA Women’s Doubles Rankings. Nadia Petrova turned pro in 1999 after winning the Girls French Open title the year before. Her highest singles ranking was sixth in the world in 2006, but she has consistently been a contender in all the majors and won the UNICEF Open in 2012, bringing her back inside the top 20 in the world rankings.
At Wimbledon in 1998, Roger Federer won his first Grand Slam title, but it was a junior title as he was competing in the boy’s division. Another famous tennis superstar of today won their first title at this same tournament …
Serena Williams. Only Serena’s was in the main draw of Mixed-Doubles with partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus. For the past 15 years, Serena has been the world’s best female tennis player, seemingly unopposed, except on the rare occasion when she faces her sister Venus. Serena came on tour with a flourish of victories and had a stellar career before an injury in 2005 that dropped her out of the top 100. She fought back, training hard and had four more years of great success before the 2010 season in which she injured her foot forcing her to miss the U.S. Open and drop in rankings once again. For many players, this foot injury would have been career-ending. After 13 years at the top of the game, many other competitors would look to hang up the racquet and bask in the glory of a career considered by many to be one of the best in the history of the sport … but not Serena. She fought back, working out harder, adding yoga and Pilates to her regiment to increase muscle flexibility, strength and core stability. Watching her play now, its hard to imagine that she had injuries at all, she looks to be at the top of her game, playing better at the age of 31 than she did at 21. Since she came on the scene, the game has changed, what fans and commentators call “The Williams Effect.” WTA players are constantly working on getting their serves bigger and groundstrokes harder to keep up with Serena and her sister. However, Serena has stepped up her game and as everyone around her has gotten better, she has improved faster and has become a fixture atop Grand Slam podiums.
Is there a single magic item or regiment that is helping tennis players sustain peak condition into their 30s? Although he is a youngster, Novak Djokovic brought a great deal of attention to nutrition as a component of peak physical performance after having what many refer to as the best season in the history of the sport in 2011, after removing gluten from his diet. Many of the top players have been easing up on their competitive schedule in the interest of a lengthened career. Roger Federer is scheduled to play 19 weeks of tournament tennis in 2013, down from 26 in 2008 and 30 in 2003.The top players have been adding specialists to their traveling entourages for years, including nutritionists, conditioning specialists and injury prevention specialists. The combination of improved physical training regiments, as well as advances in nutrition, and injury prevention techniques help to keep athletes at peak condition for longer periods of time, extending careers. Maybe if the trend continues, we will see Sloane Stephens or Ryan Harrison competing into their 40s.
ATP-Ranked Top 30 Players Over 30-Years-Old
#3 Roger Federer (SUI) 31
#4 David Ferrer(ESP) 31
#13 Tommy Haas (GER) 35
#26 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 31
#29 Tommy Robredo (ESP) 31
WTA-Ranked Top 30 Players Over 30-Years-Old
#1 Serena Williams (USA) 31
#6 Na Li (CHI) 31
#11 Roberta Vinci (ITA) 30
#16 Nadia Petrova (RUS) 31
