Some numbers you may find interesting….
The heights of Wimbledon finalists over 50 years:
2014 Federer (1.85) v Djokovic (1.88) Average 1.865
2004 Federer (1.85) v Roddick (1.88) Average 1.865
1994 Sampras (1.85) v Ivanisevic (1.93). Average 1.89
1984 McEnroe (1.80) v Connors (1.77). Average 1.785
1974 Connors (1.77) v Rosewall (1.70). Average 1.735
1964 Emerson (1.83) v Stolle (1.90). Average 1.865
The height of the finalists in 2014 was the same as it was 50 years earlier, and not as high as 1994.
The finalists in 2017 were Federer and Cilic. Cilic
is tall, at 1.98m. So average height of the finalists was 1.915m.
More stats..
The average height of the top 4 seeds (or top 4 ranked players) at any time should indicate what height is most successful at that time. Since the ATP rankings are only valid relatively recently it is better to take the top 4 seeds for historical data.
1965 Average height of top 4 seeds at Wimbledon = 1.90m
2013 Average height of top 4 seeds at Wimbledon= 1.85m
2017 Average height of the top 4 seeds at Wimbledon= 1.87m
So he average height of the top 4 seeds in 2017 was less than in 1965, and even with an exceptionally tall finalist like Cilic the average height of the finalists was only a bit taller (15mm or ¾ inch) than the top 4 seeds in 1965, over 50 years ago (check out the seeds and their height in Wikipedia).
Were they the tallest ever? Well, the 1991 Wimbledon final was between Becker (1.90m) and Stich (1.93m), average height 1.915m. The same as the 2017 final.
So the next time anyone says that tennis has moved into an era where taller players dominate, remember to treat that statement with a whole load of scepticism. The world may be getting taller, but the ideal height for a champion has hardly changed for 50 years and doesn't show any sign of changing in a big way. Big guys may have the occasional win (e.g. Smith, Safin, Del Potro) but they don't have long term robustness.
Some more stuff…
In 1953 Jack Kramer toured with Frank Sedgman and they earned $304,000 between them
https://www.si.com/vault/1958/02/24/571808/the-small-green-empire-of-jack-kramer
Meanwhile the salaries for other sports were a fraction of what they are now
https://www.quora.com/What-were-salaries-like-for-professional-athletes-back-in-the-old-days
https://www.firmex.com/thedealroom/what-nba-salaries-would-these-superstar-players-make-today
In football salaries were still capped, and someone like Usain Bolt would have run as a complete amateur.
In Lew Hoads first year as a professional in 1958 "Hoad's contract guaranteed $125,000 over two years. In his first 12 months as a pro, Hoad earned $200,000. Hoad and Gonzales became the top two highest paid athletes on the planet."
So tennis was a much more attractive sport for someone athletic wanting to make a living, much more attractive relatively than it is now.
While the world population has grown significantly, so has the money in other sports than tennis, especially those that fill TV time. As a result they have become much better at creaming off athletic talent into academies, which then spit many of them out as ‘failures’ in their late teens when it is much too late to take up a technical sport like tennis. However the consolation is that you can make a much better living as even a moderate player in these popular sports than all but a very few tennis players.
Conclusion: The average height of the most successful tennis players has hardly changed over many, many decades. There have been occasional greats who are shorter and taller than the optimum, but the long run average has stayed virtually constant. Tall players win a few, but don’t have long term success. This could be due to physical size of a tennis court, which places a premium on burst of movement, or it could be due to the fact that the increasing number of good tall movers are simple being creamed off into other sports, where improvements in the condition of the surface they move on (better grass for outdoor, synthetic instead of cinders for sprinting) mean they can move much easier than in the past.
The best athlete in the world today is almost certainly not Federer or Nadal or Djokovic, but is probably playing in one of the high-earning popular sports where they were scouted at an early age. They probably don’t stand out because they are surrounded by other great athletes playing that sport, who were also scouted early.
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