The whole peak/prime thing is laughable beyond belief. Perhaps we should just start allocating EXTRA BONUS POINTS for all players who are older than a certain age.
For example, when a 34 year-old beats a 28 year-old, we give the 34 year-old 50 more points, because it's so awesoooooome that he is able to beat a younger player when he is waaaaay past his prime/peak/shmeek.
Or maybe when RF loses to a player 6 years younger, the defeat DOESN'T COUNT in the official H2H. Would that make a lot of RF fans happy, right?
In boxing nobody asks you are you in or out or before or after your prime. You step onto the ring like a man and take defeat like a man, and nobody has lost but you, and you have no excuses (unless you were injured and couldn't punch because your wrist was hurt or whatever). But barring injuries, which are a valid excuse, I am not interested in age at all. Because EVERY player benefits from playing players "past their prime", even RF did that a lot when he was young. What goes around comes around. But some RF fans (very few of them though) try to make it appear as if RF was only VICTIMIZED by his "advancing age", never actually benefited from other players - such as Sampras or Agassi.