I just realized that compared to a couple years ago the top 10 as a whole seems to be getting significantly taller:
Federer and Nadal at 6'1''
Djokovic at 6'2''
Murray at 6'3"
Roddick at 6'2''
Del Potro at 6'6"
Monfils at 6'4"
Verdasco at 6'2"
Only leaves two "shorties" under 6ft: Simon (5ft11) and Davydenko (5ft10) - who's on the way down anyway.
And when you factor in the most promising youngsters that will probably make the top 10 in the future: Cilic (6ft5), Gulbis (6ft5), Tsonga (6ft2), maybe Isner (6ft9)...
you get a very different picture from a few years back when the top 10 seemed to be dominated by smaller, quicker guys like Coria, Ferrer, Gaudio, Hewitt, Davydenko, Nalbandian, Robredo, Gonzalez... all under 6ft. Back then people were saying that because of slower surfaces since around 2000-2002 shorter players were given a big advantage over tall power players.
The interesting part is that the surfaces or the balls haven't gotten any faster and yet the elite seems to be getting much taller all of a sudden.
Federer and Nadal at 6'1''
Djokovic at 6'2''
Murray at 6'3"
Roddick at 6'2''
Del Potro at 6'6"
Monfils at 6'4"
Verdasco at 6'2"
Only leaves two "shorties" under 6ft: Simon (5ft11) and Davydenko (5ft10) - who's on the way down anyway.
And when you factor in the most promising youngsters that will probably make the top 10 in the future: Cilic (6ft5), Gulbis (6ft5), Tsonga (6ft2), maybe Isner (6ft9)...
you get a very different picture from a few years back when the top 10 seemed to be dominated by smaller, quicker guys like Coria, Ferrer, Gaudio, Hewitt, Davydenko, Nalbandian, Robredo, Gonzalez... all under 6ft. Back then people were saying that because of slower surfaces since around 2000-2002 shorter players were given a big advantage over tall power players.
The interesting part is that the surfaces or the balls haven't gotten any faster and yet the elite seems to be getting much taller all of a sudden.