Is there any pro who started to play after 18 years old?

Flyingpanda said:
True, I don't see it happening it tennis, however it does happen in MMA, which is an individual sport. Former UFC light heavyweight champ Junior Dos Santos was a dishwasher and didn't train in MMA until the age of 21. Journeyman Nate Quarry grew up a Jehovah's Witness and didn't train until the age of 24, making his pro debut at 29. Going back a little further, all time great Frank Shamrock, didn't train until 22.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. In MMA it just takes 1 devastating strike to end a fight, so everyone has a punchers chance...Not quite the same scenario as a tennis match. Also MMA is becoming more and more technical, as it's gaining popularity. So I would imagine there will be less and less "late bloomers" as the sport evolves.

Obviously we do see some guys picking up basketball/football late. But in these sports, being a freak athlete is more important than skill often times. Also a player can contribute to a team if they have 1 good skill, unlike tennis where you need multiple skills. I will say, the only way I could see a person picking up tennis late and becoming a top 200 player, is if they were like 7' tall and had a Karlovic esque serve. Then, maybe...
 
okdude1992 said:
That's a good point. In MMA it just takes 1 devastating strike to end a fight, so everyone has a punchers chance...Not quite the same scenario as a tennis match. Also MMA is becoming more and more technical, as it's gaining popularity. So I would imagine there will be less and less "late bloomers" as the sport evolves.

Obviously we do see some guys picking up basketball/football late. But in these sports, being a freak athlete is more important than skill often times. Also a player can contribute to a team if they have 1 good skill, unlike tennis where you need multiple skills. I will say, the only way I could see a person picking up tennis late and becoming a top 200 player, is if they were like 7' tall and had a Karlovic esque serve. Then, maybe...
Click to expand...

More popularity leads to a harder competition, yeah. Now honestly I think you can actually scrap the idea of me competing at the pro tour, if I gave this notion around here, it is kind of funny, my height is 5'7 and my weight rovers around 110 pounds, add this to the mix and I'm sure all explodes, it will seem extremely absurd, haha:)
 
Last edited:
Ran into a guy in a team tennis match this weekend that comes about as close as anyone I know to doing something like this, but it was in golf. I was a pro (tennis) at a club right after college, and worked with him when he was 14. Moved away, and then came back 3 years later. He was probably top 2 or 3 in the state 18's then, and used to practice with him. He signed D1 tennis, and played a couple of years. I think he messed around a little with golf on the side, and had a lot of natural talent. Ended up giving up tennis, and going on the pro tour in golf. Was not on the PGA tour, but stayed on the lower tours for many many years. I think he is a golf club pro now, but still a strong 4.5 tennis player.
 
okdude1992 said:
I could, but I don't want to reveal someone elses identity on the internet. That seems inappropriate. If you don't believe the story, fine. I just looked up the player I was referring to on the ATP site. Reached #432 in '91. Feel free to do some detective work if you have the time...
Click to expand...

You don't want to reveal someone's identity on the internet ... but I can look them up on the ATP internet site? That just does not make sense.

Professional tennis players are not trying to keep their identity's secret.
 
kiki said:
Stan Smith started to play seriously around 19
Click to expand...

I guess your definition of "seriously" and mine are different.

Q/A with Stan Smith. Born 1946.

From 1963 to ’68, Smith won four singles titles and three doubles titles in various divisions. From ’66 to ’68, the national junior champion won three colleges singles title, twice over USC teammate Bob Lutz, whom he then partnered with for doubles.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffa...of-famer-is-cool-again-with-his-retro-adidas/
 
justinmadison said:
I guess your definition of "seriously" and mine are different.

Q/A with Stan Smith. Born 1946.

From 1963 to ’68, Smith won four singles titles and three doubles titles in various divisions. From ’66 to ’68, the national junior champion won three colleges singles title, twice over USC teammate Bob Lutz, whom he then partnered with for doubles.

http://www.insidesocal.com/tomhoffa...of-famer-is-cool-again-with-his-retro-adidas/
Click to expand...

OK, I just read somewhere he took tennis quite over age...
 
wercide said:
There is Benjamin Becker who is a successful player, and turned pro at 25, but he'll never win a GS, and i doubt i started playing at 18 though....
Click to expand...

Becker turned 'pro' at 23, in 2005. But, that was after being ranked in the 800s at 18-19, in 2000, then going to college at Baylor for 4 years, 2001-2005.
 
Kei_Nish said:
Hewitt started pretty late around 12?
He was playing Aussie rules footy till then
Click to expand...

According to the ITF site, he started at 3. That's a lot more believable than 12. Especially considering he beat Agassi when he was 16. No way somebody playing for 4 years is beating Agassi.
 
beernutz said:
Thank you, I was wondering when someone was going to point this out. At the least the OP is a classic example of the Dunning Kruger effect.
Click to expand...

I was thinking the exact same thing. It always amazes me how many 3.0 and 3.5 players, especially guys, think that they are good enough to maybe win a game off a female pro, for instance. The better player you are, the more you understand just how gifted the best are. I used to tell my ex-husband I am just good enough to know how much I suck.
 
ttwarrior1 said:
never give up, go for it. Don't overtrain.
Click to expand...

I always train and play to get better, otherwise the fun goes away. Overtraining is pointless indeed, pull a muscle and then you're out for who knows how long. Still I never suffered any injury while playing and I consider myself an 'Injury Free Man', never really understood all those injuries of the players in general, after all tennis is a no contact sport.:confused:

Arafel said:
I was thinking the exact same thing. It always amazes me how many 3.0 and 3.5 players, especially guys, think that they are good enough to maybe win a game off a female pro, for instance. The better player you are, the more you understand just how gifted the best are. I used to tell my ex-husband I am just good enough to know how much I suck.
Click to expand...

Ignorance is bliss, since you do not know what you're really ignorant about, I concur, you know, maybe there are people who might want to get the opportunity to be able to lose against a pro, the lowest ranking players might never really get to play against the better players. Yeah, the more you learn, the more you see that you have way more to learn.
 
Last edited:
G A S said:
I always train and play to get better, otherwise the fun goes away. Overtraining is pointless indeed, pull a muscle and then you're out for who knows how long. Still I never suffered any injury while playing and I consider myself an 'Injury Free Man', never really understood all those injuries of the players in general, after all tennis is a no contact sport.:confused:



Ignorance is bliss, since you do not know what you're really ignorant about, I concur, you know, maybe there are people who might want to get the opportunity to be able to lose against a pro, the lowest ranking players might never really get to play against the better players. Yeah, the more you learn, the more you see that you have way more to learn.
Click to expand...

Injuries come with the territory the more you play. Tennis is a very hard sport on the body, and years of wear and tear add up. For instance, I ended up jarring my back due to sliding into a line on a har-tru court. I've had this injury for over a year now. Complete freak accident where I took a wrong step and that was it. Same goes with guys who get knee and ankle injuries. It's not hard to take a weird step or a small fall and that's all she wrote. Not to mention all the excess pounding all your joints take from running on hard courts.

-Fuji
 
To be good enough to know what talent the pros have is a miserable state

Im a solid player, i will be playing d3 college tennis because the academics are better than at some of the d1s i could go to

and to watch pros play or even the top kids in the nation is incredible, there comes a point where you are really good and can hit just about any shot, but then theres this next level that has all of that in an unrelentling wave of shots

my tennis is top notch, the consistency and mental strength to hit those shots is where im in need of closing the gap
 
Fuji said:
Injuries come with the territory the more you play. Tennis is a very hard sport on the body, and years of wear and tear add up. For instance, I ended up jarring my back due to sliding into a line on a har-tru court. I've had this injury for over a year now. Complete freak accident where I took a wrong step and that was it. Same goes with guys who get knee and ankle injuries. It's not hard to take a weird step or a small fall and that's all she wrote. Not to mention all the excess pounding all your joints take from running on hard courts.

-Fuji
Click to expand...

So, I really did not have all these years of wear since I started playing later.. I never played at hard courts, only on clay, hard courts do not exist in my city as far as I know. Good coordination can indeed prevent injuries then. I completely fell the other day while playing but since the court is clay I did not injure myself at all. Is there much of a difference in the effects that clay courts vs hard courts have in your body?
 
G A S said:
So, I really did not have all these years of wear since I started playing later.. I never played at hard courts, only on clay, hard courts do not exist in my city as far as I know. Good coordination can indeed prevent injuries then. I completely fell the other day while playing but since the court is clay I did not injure myself at all. Is there much of a difference in the effects that clay courts vs hard courts have in your body?
Click to expand...

Huge difference between clay and hardcourts. I've fallen on clay before and it's like a pillow lol. It's amazing how different the two are on the body though. I have no problems playing 20-30 hours a week on clay, but my body taps out after no more than 6-8 hours a week on hardcourts. Biggest toll is on the knees and back for me in particular. On clay, you (rarely) get any type of tiredness/overwork on the knees, but on hardcourts they take an absolute pounding.

Also regarding years of wear and tear: Here in Canada hartru/clay is very rare. My city over over a million people only has 1 hartru club haha. All our junior development programs and 99% of our tournaments are on hardcourts.

-Fuji
 
Fuji said:
Huge difference between clay and hardcourts. I've fallen on clay before and it's like a pillow lol. It's amazing how different the two are on the body though. I have no problems playing 20-30 hours a week on clay, but my body taps out after no more than 6-8 hours a week on hardcourts. Biggest toll is on the knees and back for me in particular. On clay, you (rarely) get any type of tiredness/overwork on the knees, but on hardcourts they take an absolute pounding.

Also regarding years of wear and tear: Here in Canada hartru/clay is very rare. My city over over a million people only has 1 hartru club haha. All our junior development programs and 99% of our tournaments are on hardcourts.

-Fuji
Click to expand...

The opposite regarding types of court, then. Back problems seem very prevalent in the players.
 
For a good idea of what it takes to be in the top 100 watch the Tennis Channel bio on Vasek Pospisil. His father was a coach, his brothers played juniors, he got coaching from his dad at five, won his first tournament at six. He was hitting with a racket in the house as soon as he could walk.
 
tennis tom said:
For a good idea of what it takes to be in the top 100 watch the Tennis Channel bio on Vasek Pospisil. His father was a coach, his brothers played juniors, he got coaching from his dad at five, won his first tournament at six. He was hitting with a racket in the house as soon as he could walk.
Click to expand...

The age of onset is a wall, the more people talk about how early all players started, the stronger it gets, the materials of this wall are so sturdy...:mrgreen:

this thread was very useful to strenghten my desire to win the matches, even at the lower levels of play I feel energized and ready to play, one upside out of everything.
 
From Wikipedia:
Perry was the first player to win a "Career Grand Slam" winning all four singles titles at the age of 26 which he completed at the 1935 French Championships and remains the only British player ever to achieve this.[3] Although Perry began his tennis career aged 18, he was also a Table Tennis World Champion in 1929.[4]

Of course, "beginning his tennis career" does not necessarily mean never touched a racket or wasn't an excellent player already when he switched to tennis. If you are the world table tennis champion at 20 years old and are tall, strong, and fast, you might have a good shot.
 
Well I first picked up a racket at age 32 and worked up to around #28 in the country now in my age group. About a 20 year process while working a professional job full time and raising kids. It can be done by a very good athlete with a lot of focus and a precise game plan. It's a lot of fun as a journey if your passion is to see how competitive you can get against the best senior players in the world and you have a decent base.
 
okdude1992 said:
OP, let me give you a personal example. I know of a guy who picked up a racket for the first time at 15. Started training immediately with a coach who had worked with pros in the past. Played his first tournaments at 16 and became ranked top 50 in the state. By the end of his junior career he was 2nd in the state, and top 40 in the nation. He played 4 years of d3 tennis. Then tried to go pro and reached a high ranking of around #400. True story, I promise.
*caveat: said player was 6'4. Could consistently serve 130. Incredibly good athlete. With elite coaching/hitting partners.
Click to expand...

justinmadison said:
Great story. I am sure you would be glad to give us this persons name.
Click to expand...

okdude1992 said:
I could, but I don't want to reveal someone elses identity on the internet. That seems inappropriate. If you don't believe the story, fine. I just looked up the player I was referring to on the ATP site. Reached #432 in '91. Feel free to do some detective work if you have the time...
Click to expand...

justinmadison said:
You don't want to reveal someone's identity on the internet ... but I can look them up on the ATP internet site? That just does not make sense.

Professional tennis players are not trying to keep their identity's secret.
Click to expand...


Ron Ward?

http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=10001475

http://www.atpworldtour.com/players/ron-ward/w168/player-activity?year=all

http://www.deanza.edu/athletics/tennisw/

http://www.deanza.edu/athletics/tennism/

In those links there is information...and I guess he is in one of those pics? Now, some of the information in the De Anza website seems to be wrong. He played the qualy of Wimbledon. Which are the wins over players in the top 20 in the world? Anyway, it has been fun doing the investigation.

menstennis.jpg


25000tns_32415.jpg
 
Fuji said:
Oh my bad sorry. But yeah, even 18 is going to be impossible. Good players have already played their entire junior careers by the time you start. That's a solid 8-14 years of intense training and competition. There is very little (ie no) chance you can make up that time and experience as an adult, there just aren't the same opportunities both on and off court for the most part.

-Fuji
Click to expand...

^^ Nailed it.. I'm not sure why you would even want to try. I know people that started playing in high school, and wanted to become just a teaching pro, and after 7 years haven't achieved that level. Tennis is a hard sport. Talent only takes you so far, but repetition and time are what really matters.. If you start at 18, you will have the advantage on many club players down the road who don't start until 25/30. You could probably become a really solid 4.5 player but I would highly doubt you'd surpass that. I can't even say I know anyone above 4.5 who didn't start young and/or play in college.
 
Tim Gullikson, born 1951, turned pro 1977,

Singles:
Australian Open 4R (1983, 1985)
French Open 4R (1978, 1979)
Wimbledon QF (1979)
US Open 4R (1979)

Doubles:
Australian Open SF (1982, 1983)
French Open 3R (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
Wimbledon F (1983)
US Open SF (1982)

Tom Gullikson, born 1951, turned pro 1976

Singles:
Australian Open 3R (1983, 1984)
French Open 3R (1977)
Wimbledon 3R (1978, 1979, 1984, 1985)
US Open QF (1982)

Doubles:
Australian Open SF (1983)
French Open 3R (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
Wimbledon F (1983)
US Open SF (1982)
 
movdqa said:
Tim Gullikson, born 1951, turned pro 1977,

Singles:
Australian Open 4R (1983, 1985)
French Open 4R (1978, 1979)
Wimbledon QF (1979)
US Open 4R (1979)

Doubles:
Australian Open SF (1982, 1983)
French Open 3R (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
Wimbledon F (1983)
US Open SF (1982)

Tom Gullikson, born 1951, turned pro 1976

Singles:
Australian Open 3R (1983, 1984)
French Open 3R (1977)
Wimbledon 3R (1978, 1979, 1984, 1985)
US Open QF (1982)

Doubles:
Australian Open SF (1983)
French Open 3R (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980)
Wimbledon F (1983)
US Open SF (1982)
Click to expand...


So he turned pro at 26, and started playing at 20? I wish I was that talented lol.
 
Vegito said:
Ron Ward?

http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/players/player/profile.aspx?playerid=10001475

http://www.atpworldtour.com/players/ron-ward/w168/player-activity?year=all

http://www.deanza.edu/athletics/tennisw/

http://www.deanza.edu/athletics/tennism/

In those links there is information...and I guess he is in one of those pics? Now, some of the information in the De Anza website seems to be wrong. He played the qualy of Wimbledon. Which are the wins over players in the top 20 in the world? Anyway, it has been fun doing the investigation.

menstennis.jpg


25000tns_32415.jpg
Click to expand...

Cool, so there was a lone soul out there who reached this level.
 
G A S said:
Cool, so there was a lone soul out there who reached this level.
Click to expand...
The first line in Ron's bio is ... Experience: Ron was a Junior ranked player with national tournament experience. NCAA individual winner. NCAA team finalist. Ranked in the top 300 in the world on the ATP Tour. Finals of 11 pro events

Junior player = started before 18
 
justinmadison said:
The first line in Ron's bio is ... Experience: Ron was a Junior ranked player with national tournament experience. NCAA individual winner. NCAA team finalist. Ranked in the top 300 in the world on the ATP Tour. Finals of 11 pro events

Junior player = started before 18
Click to expand...
So, no way around it seems... when you do a deeper investigation you always find out that the players have some prior experience...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Heck
First Open Tournament at 45 years old
Replies
11
Views
1K
Heck
Heck
J
Player who didnt play tennis until 9th grade and later played Challengers
Replies
11
Views
2K
ChaelAZ
ChaelAZ
T
After approving my auto-appeal from 2.5C to 3.0A
Replies
8
Views
378
TennisOTM
T
travlerajm
When did usta records started being public?
Replies
10
Views
699
travlerajm
travlerajm
R
is it time to start a coup?
2
Replies
54
Views
4K
raiden031
R
Back
Top