This year's QF lineup is the oldest since 1974

[Moose Malloy]

Federer 30(31 next month)
Ferrer 30
Youzhny 30
Mayer 28
Kohlschreiber 28
Tsonga 27
Murray 25
Djokovic 25

average age 28. that's the oldest average of a W QF lineup since 1974(which had its average skewed a bit by 40 year old Rosewall)

and the oldest average at any major QF since '77 AO(which had a smaller draw & most of the top 20 absent)

The Fed Youzhny Qf is the first QF at a major between two 30 year olds since 2008(Schuettler-Clement)

The youngest W QF lineup was in '07(Djokovic, Gasquet, Nadal, Berdych, Baghdatis, Roddick, Federer, Ferrero, average age 23)

http://tennis28.com/slams/agerecords_qf.html#oldall

 

[Mustard]

At 1974 Wimbledon, the ages of the quarter finalists were:

Newcombe: 30
Rosewall: 39
Smith: 27
El Shafei: 26
Kodes: 28
Connors: 21
Metreveli: 29
Stockton: 23

 

[Cup8489]

Wow, that's so surprising.

 

[BrooklynNY]

It is kind of strange. I guess we can partially thank Gulbis and Rosol for this.

 

[Limpinhitter]

They've been taking their Geritol.

 

[Moose Malloy]

I guess we can partially thank Gulbis and Rosol for this

Nadal & Berdych are 26, they wouldn't have brought down the average much.

there were probably more 30 year olds in the draw than any other Wimbledon(the French set a record last month with the amount of 30 year olds in its draw)

while as recently as 2007, there weren't that many 30 year olds in the top 100.

 

[mcenroefan]

As I've claimed before, no strong young generation challenging the older players equals a weaker era.

 

[MrFlip]

As I've claimed before, no strong young generation challenging the older players equals a weaker era.

You can blame the aspiration of every single junior player to be like each other. Attack of the clones

 

[BeHappy]

Fed and Youzhny playing each other? That should be funny, they bot have back problems.

 

[dudeski]

This explains why Nadal has 11 slams. New generation sucks. This is the weakest area in almost 40 years.

 

[stringertom]

At 1974 Wimbledon, the ages of the quarter finalists were:

Newcombe: 30
Rosewall: 39
Smith: 27
El Shafei: 26
Kodes: 28
Connors: 21
Metreveli: 29
Stockton: 31

Stockton was a juniors rival of Connors, not 10 years older than Jimbo. I'm guessing his age at '74 Wimby was, at most, 23.

 

[BeHappy]

Stockton was a juniors rival of Connors, not 10 years older than Jimbo. I'm guessing his age at '74 Wimby was, at most, 23.

Moose Molloy is obviously just another young guy posing as an old man on the Retired Pro Players forum. They all slip up like that every once in a while.

 

[Mustard]

Stockton was a juniors rival of Connors, not 10 years older than Jimbo. I'm guessing his age at '74 Wimby was, at most, 23.

Oh yeah, sorry. Dick Stockton was 23.

Moose Molloy is obviously just another young guy posing as an old man on the Retired Pro Players forum. They all slip up like that every once in a while.

I assume you mean me? I've never denied I'm "young", by the way.

 

[BeHappy]

I assume you mean me? I've never denied I'm "young", by the way.

No actually, you've never posed as a 60 year old.

edit: Oh I see what happened here, I misread that quoted post with the Stockton error and thought it was Moose Molloys. Well, apologies to you both.

 

[stringertom]

Moose Molloy is obviously just another young guy posing as an old man on the Retired Pro Players forum. They all slip up like that every once in a while.

Shades of grayism in that statement...careful, I'm 59 and caught Mustard's faux pas. I do slip every once in a while...when I step on a banana peel!

 

[BeHappy]

Shades of grayism in that statement...careful, I'm 59 and caught Mustard's faux pas. I do slip every once in a while...when I step on a banana peel!

As long as you're actually 59 that's fine!

I think posters like Limpinhitter are teenagers pretending they're older though.

 

[Mustard]

Shades of grayism in that statement...careful, I'm 59 and caught Mustard's faux pas. I do slip every once in a while...when I step on a banana peel!

I got the wrong Dick Stockton's date of birth, the sportscaster instead of the tennis player.

 

[stringertom]

As long as you're actually 59 that's fine!

I think posters like Limpinhitter are teenagers pretending they're older though.

Sure am! Connors is six weeks older than me. We both "summered" in London in '72, he at Wimby and I was a student five stops on the tube from SW19.

 

[joeri888]

The real weak era is the one behind nadal djokovic and Murray, draws Will get Older Because Federer Nadal Djokovic and Murray get older while nobody throws them out.

 

[firepanda]

As I've claimed before, no strong young generation challenging the older players equals a weaker era.

Troll.

Save it for the dedicated thread.

 

[Moose Malloy]

deleted post

 

[Moose Malloy]

bumped for another amazing stat: this year's French Open QF lineup has the oldest average age at any French Open QF since 1968! and 1968 was the first "open" French Open.

There were only 3 other Open Era majors that had an older lineup than this year's French, all were between '68 & '70, so you had many pre Open Era players - Emerson, Rosewall, Laver, Gonzales - skewing the average age a bit.

The Robredo-Ferrer QF is the oldest French Open QF since 1971.
If Fed & Ferrer both win, their semi will be the oldest French Open SF since 1968.

Once you got past the early years of the Open Era, the French was always the 'youngest' slam in terms of overall average ages of players in later rounds. for example, from '88 to '97 the average age of a quarterfinalist there was 22. In 2008 it was 23. Now its 29. wow.

 

[Warmaster]

The scary things is that the new generation hasn't even come close.

We might see this record getting broken again in the near future. A lot of the top 10 players aren't going anywhere.

 

[Mustard]

The question that this poses is, where are the next generation of great players?

 

[kiki]

At 1974 Wimbledon, the ages of the quarter finalists were:

Newcombe: 30
Rosewall: 39
Smith: 27
El Shafei: 26
Kodes: 28
Connors: 21
Metreveli: 29
Stockton: 23

Except for the exception Rosewall I don´t think it is too old of a draw.

In 75 Wimbledon we also had Ashe,Nastase and Roche in the quarters?

 

[WhiskeyEE]

Weakest era in history. A bunch of old has-beens cleaning up the slams and still no new generation in sight.

 

[Onehandedbackhand]

Haas, not Youzhny.

Haas is 35.

 

[Mustard]

In 75 Wimbledon we also had Ashe,Nastase and Roche in the quarters?

Not Nastase. He lost in the Round of 64 to Sherwood Stewart.

 

[borg number one]

You have Federer, Ferrer, and Tommy Haas still playing extremely good tennis. With Robredo, this has been a huge surprise. Tennis will face a real challenge post Federer and then even more so post Federer and Nadal. Even Murray versus Djokovic at the top would make the numbers tail off. Past the big four, who's going to be winning majors in 2014 and beyond? After Laver, came Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Sampras, Federer, Nadal, and then Djokovic. Who are the next few superstars?

 

[Mustard]

You have Federer, Ferrer, and Tommy Haas still playing extremely good tennis. With Robredo, this has been a huge surprise. Tennis will face a real challenge post Federer and then even more so post Federer and Nadal. Even Murray versus Djokovic at the top would make the numbers tail off. Past the big four, who's going to be winning majors in 2014 and beyond? After Laver, came Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Sampras, Federer, Nadal, and then Djokovic. Who are the next few superstars?

Perhaps another 1998-2003 period, where there were a load of different major winners. In hindsight, the 1998-2003 period was a period of transition, but it didn't feel like that at the time. At the time, the wisdom seemed to be that the players were so good, that no player could dominate the sport anymore. Then prime Federer arrived in 2004.

 

[mattennis]

Wow, nothing like this since the late 60s....

And some stupid people used to say that in the 60s and early 70s there were some 30-something players reaching QF and SF of GS because it was a weaker era.

Whereas now, in this super-physical, super-strong, super-everything era, we have.....the same we had in the late 60s, old players getting to the last rounds of big tournaments.

 

[Deleted member 77403]

I am actually a little worred about the future of the game, and where we are heading.

 

[Mustard]

I am actually a little worred about the future of the game, and where we are heading.

You mean you fear a lack of dominant players?

 

[Deleted member 77403]

You mean you fear a lack of dominant players?

I fear a lack of compelling rivalries that can capture your imagination, a lack of great champions creating magic. I fear for a lack of leaders who will then be the face of the game, and further inspire youngsters to keep the game going.

Maybe after this period, when these guys hang it up, we will see tennis lose a little magic...but I am sure someone will rise above it at some point.

The question is....When?

 

[NikeWilson]

Rafa turned 27 today!
Feliz Cumpleanos!

 

[kragster]

I fear a lack of compelling rivalries that can capture your imagination, a lack of great champions creating magic. I fear for a lack of leaders who will then be the face of the game, and further inspire youngsters to keep the game going.

Maybe after this period, when these guys hang it up, we will see tennis lose a little magic...but I am sure someone will rise above it at some point.

The question is....When?

Well, one could argue that there were no compelling rivalries during the prime Fed era either. Nadal djokovic is still a decent rivalry and djokovic Murray could be good too.

 

[MichaelNadal]

I fear a lack of compelling rivalries that can capture your imagination, a lack of great champions creating magic. I fear for a lack of leaders who will then be the face of the game, and further inspire youngsters to keep the game going.

Maybe after this period, when these guys hang it up, we will see tennis lose a little magic...but I am sure someone will rise above it at some point.

The question is....When?

This is certainly how I feel. There are barely any guys capturing my interest that are up and coming, and the ones I do like, are so frustratingly inconsistent it seems hopeless.

 

[Onehandedbackhand]

You mean you fear a lack of dominant players?

Better worry for a lack of dominant players. TV coverage suffers without them.

 

[veroniquem]

Federer 30(31 next month)
Ferrer 30
Youzhny 30
Mayer 28
Kohlschreiber 28
Tsonga 27
Murray 25
Djokovic 25

average age 28. that's the oldest average of a W QF lineup since 1974(which had its average skewed a bit by 40 year old Rosewall)

and the oldest average at any major QF since '77 AO(which had a smaller draw & most of the top 20 absent)

The Fed Youzhny Qf is the first QF at a major between two 30 year olds since 2008(Schuettler-Clement)

The youngest W QF lineup was in '07(Djokovic, Gasquet, Nadal, Berdych, Baghdatis, Roddick, Federer, Ferrero, average age 23)

http://tennis28.com/slams/agerecords_qf.html#oldall

Never mind. Didn't notice it was a bump from last year.

 

[Moose Malloy]

Just to be clear, my OP was about Wimbledon 2012, which had the oldest QF lineup at Wimbledon since 1974.

This years French Open QF lineup:

Haas 35
Federer 31
Ferrer 31
Robredo 31
Tsonga 28
Wawrinka 28
Nadal 27
Djokovic 26

has an average age of 29, which is the oldest QF lineup at the French Open since 1968. The lineup that year:

Gonzales, Rosewall, Emerson, Gimeno, Laver, Tiriac, Jovanovic, Koch

Whereas now, in this super-physical, super-strong, super-everything era, we have.....the same we had in the late 60s, old players getting to the last rounds of big tournaments.

we're close to having the oldest top ten since mid 70s. when Fish & Melzer cracked top 10 for the first time at age 29, I joked that Florian Mayer would be the next old guy to breakthrough. Forgot about Robredo & Haas who were virtually retired 1-2 years ago. Now both could be top 10 soon. maybe Safin should come back, he's younger than Haas.

It seems like commentators keep forgetting how old todays players are(some of them keep calling Tsonga & Berdych young! If Tsonga wins a major next year, he will be the same age as 'old' Goran at 2001 Wimbledon!)

Perhaps another 1998-2003 period, where there were a load of different major winners.

at least there were young guys winning majors in that time(Moya, Hewitt, Safin, Ferrero, Roddick) so we could get somewhat excited by the new generation. Should Berdych, Tsonga(the only realistic bets outside top 4) win a major in the next few years they will be around Andres Gomez in 1990 territory, age wise.