Sputnik Bulgorov
Professional
We keep hearing about how medical advancements are extending player's primes, prolonging careers and their time at the top. This is true, but when did it actually start and accelerate? Most posters here say 90's players did not benefit from it while 2000's players did without showing any data, so let's take a look at some stats for the top players of different gens.
Key takeaways:
- New balls gen's advantage in career length is purely down to outliers Federer and Haas. Without them, their average career length is the same as our group of 1970-76 born players. This disproves the myth that early to mid 2000's players were benefiting from longer careers.
- There is a massive jump in retirement age and career length from the new balls gen to the golden gen. The shortest careers in this group are at the top range of the other two groups. This is when the "age shift", as some might call it, truly accelerated.
- As far as career length and retirement age, new balls gen has much more in common with the group of 1970-1976 born players than the golden gen. We should stop grouping them together and applying the same modern standards of aging and longevity to new balls gen.
1970-1976 players
Median retirement age: 32
Average career length: 14.09 years
Agassi - retired 2006, age 36, 20 year career
Moya - retired 2010, age 34, 15 year career
Ivanisevic - retired 2004, age 33, 16 year career
Sampras - retired 2003, age 32, 15 year career
Krajicek - retired 2003, age 32, 14 year career
Kuerten - retired 2008, age 32, 13 year career
Rafter - retired 2003, age 31, 12 year career
Enqvist - retired 2005, age 31, 14 year career
Chang - retired 2003, age 31, 15 year career
Kafelnikov - retired 2003, age 29, 11 year career
Rios - retired 2004, age 29, 10 year career
New Balls Gen
Median retirement age: 32.5 (+1.6% over 1970-1976)
Average career length: 15.58 years (+10% over 1970-1976)
Federer - retired 2022, age 41, 24 year career
Haas - retired 2018, age 40, 22 year career
Ferrer - retired 2019, age 37, 19 year career
Hewitt - retired 2016, age 35, 18 year career
Davydenko - retired 2014, age 33, 15 year career
Gaudio - retired 2011, age 33, 15 year career
Gonzalez - retired 2012, age 32, 13 year career
Ferrero - retired 2012, age 32, 14 year career
Nalbandian - retired 2013, age 31, 13 year career
Roddick - retired 2012, age 30, 12 year career
Safin - retired 2009, age 29, 12 year career
Coria - retired 2009, age 27, 9 year career
Golden Gen
Median retirement age: 37 (+14% over new balls gen)
Average career length: 18.82 years (+21% over new balls gen)
Wawrinka - active 2023, age 38, 21 year career
Isner - retired 2023, age 38, 16 year career
Nadal - active 2023, age 37, 22 year career
Gasquet - retired 2023, age 37, 21 year career
Monfils - active 2023, age 37, 19 year career
Tsonga - retired 2022, age 37, 18 year career
Djokovic - active 2023, age 36, 20 year career
Murray - active 2023, age 36, 18 year career
Cilic - active 2023, age 35, 18 year career
Del Potro - retired 2022, age 34, 17 year career
Berdych - retired 2019, age 34, 17 year career
Key takeaways:
- New balls gen's advantage in career length is purely down to outliers Federer and Haas. Without them, their average career length is the same as our group of 1970-76 born players. This disproves the myth that early to mid 2000's players were benefiting from longer careers.
- There is a massive jump in retirement age and career length from the new balls gen to the golden gen. The shortest careers in this group are at the top range of the other two groups. This is when the "age shift", as some might call it, truly accelerated.
- As far as career length and retirement age, new balls gen has much more in common with the group of 1970-1976 born players than the golden gen. We should stop grouping them together and applying the same modern standards of aging and longevity to new balls gen.
1970-1976 players
Median retirement age: 32
Average career length: 14.09 years
Agassi - retired 2006, age 36, 20 year career
Moya - retired 2010, age 34, 15 year career
Ivanisevic - retired 2004, age 33, 16 year career
Sampras - retired 2003, age 32, 15 year career
Krajicek - retired 2003, age 32, 14 year career
Kuerten - retired 2008, age 32, 13 year career
Rafter - retired 2003, age 31, 12 year career
Enqvist - retired 2005, age 31, 14 year career
Chang - retired 2003, age 31, 15 year career
Kafelnikov - retired 2003, age 29, 11 year career
Rios - retired 2004, age 29, 10 year career
New Balls Gen
Median retirement age: 32.5 (+1.6% over 1970-1976)
Average career length: 15.58 years (+10% over 1970-1976)
Federer - retired 2022, age 41, 24 year career
Haas - retired 2018, age 40, 22 year career
Ferrer - retired 2019, age 37, 19 year career
Hewitt - retired 2016, age 35, 18 year career
Davydenko - retired 2014, age 33, 15 year career
Gaudio - retired 2011, age 33, 15 year career
Gonzalez - retired 2012, age 32, 13 year career
Ferrero - retired 2012, age 32, 14 year career
Nalbandian - retired 2013, age 31, 13 year career
Roddick - retired 2012, age 30, 12 year career
Safin - retired 2009, age 29, 12 year career
Coria - retired 2009, age 27, 9 year career
Golden Gen
Median retirement age: 37 (+14% over new balls gen)
Average career length: 18.82 years (+21% over new balls gen)
Wawrinka - active 2023, age 38, 21 year career
Isner - retired 2023, age 38, 16 year career
Nadal - active 2023, age 37, 22 year career
Gasquet - retired 2023, age 37, 21 year career
Monfils - active 2023, age 37, 19 year career
Tsonga - retired 2022, age 37, 18 year career
Djokovic - active 2023, age 36, 20 year career
Murray - active 2023, age 36, 18 year career
Cilic - active 2023, age 35, 18 year career
Del Potro - retired 2022, age 34, 17 year career
Berdych - retired 2019, age 34, 17 year career