Why are dominant young athletes so rare nowadays?

[clout]

It's only tennis, really.

In the NHL, Connor McDavid is the best player in the league, and there are many others. Matthews, Marner, Gaudreau, Mackinnon, Point.

And Mahomes is a phenom. He most likely just got screwed by a coin toss if truth be told, and Brady's great obviously, but so are the Patriots as a whole. It's not like he does it alone. Plus, look closer at the Rams and Jared Goff. Not as good as Mahomes, but he's not bad.

The MLB has a bunch of young talent. The Red Sox and Astros alone are loaded with it, and the Yankees aren't far behind. A guy like Machado has been great for a long time too, and that guy Hader that came out of the bullpen for the Brewers this year was lights out. Cody Bellinger is pretty good too. Hasn't done jack in the playoffs, I admit, but he was Rookie of the Year.

I see metsman already mentioned some NBA stars too, so really it's only tennis that has this "problem" for lack of a better word, and we've been through this a million times where tennis is concerned. Some of it is advances in tech, allowing the older generation to be able to play awesome for longer, some of it is homogeneous court surfaces, most of it is just lack of talent in comparison to Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer.

Yea there’s definitely a lot of young stars in every sport but if if I got to choose one current player to play on my team for a playoff run in hockey, basketball or football, I’m still going with Sidney Crosby, LeBron James and Tom Brady, respectively, before I think of choosing any of the younger studs. That’s just my opinion tho

 

[monfils is my homeboy]

Because Djokovic and Nadal are the greatest players of all time (Federer is there too). No young player will ever be as good as them.

I would say Federer and Djokovic with Nadal there too

 

[Steve0904]

Yea there’s definitely a lot of young stars in every sport but if if I got to choose one current player to play on my team for a playoff run in hockey, basketball or football, I’m still going with Sidney Crosby, LeBron James and Tom Brady, respectively, before I think of choosing any of the younger studs. That’s just my opinion tho

Lebron yes, because basketball is the easiest for a superstar to dominate, but the others are more debatable. It's only because you know what they've done over their careers that you would pick them for playoff runs. Everybody needs time to make their own accomplishments. Besides, it's not like Crosby is far and away the best, like say, Gretzky was back in 80's. He's just one of many superstars in the league now, and he plays with Guentzel and Kessel and Malkin etc... on a very good team while McDavid is wasting away playing with Milan Lucic and Ty Rattie, and a bunch of other no namers. And the Oilers defense and goaltending is terrible too, while Crosby gets to look back at MA Fleury or Matt Murray, and Kris Letang is better than anything the Oilers have now.

And it's basically the same with Brady. He's great but he plays on a fantastic team too. If you put him on a team like say Indy or Houston or a host of other teams and he wouldn't have made 9 SBs. He'd make those teams better don't get me wrong, but he wouldn't be in 9 SBs. In his early years, the Patriots had a dominant defense, and he's also had a very good O-Line for a long time. His consistency is admirable, I'll say that, but again, young guys like Mahomes need time to win SBs. And Mahomes might end up like Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees. Bundles of individual talent, but terrible defense and O-Line so he gets no help. Really this is about timing though. Back in 2000 or 2001 if this thread was made then many people would've said yeah I think I'll side with Kurt Warner over Tom Brady.

 

[metsman]

Lebron yes, because basketball is the easiest for a superstar to dominate, but the others are more debatable. It's only because you know what they've done over their careers that you would pick them for playoff runs. Everybody needs time to make their own accomplishments. Besides, it's not like Crosby is far and away the best, like say, Gretzky was back in 80's. He's just one of many superstars in the league now, and he plays with Guentzel and Kessel and Malkin etc... on a very good team while McDavid is wasting away playing with Milan Lucic and Ty Rattie, and a bunch of other no namers. And the Oilers defense and goaltending is terrible too, while Crosby gets to look back at MA Fleury or Matt Murray, and Kris Letang is better than anything the Oilers have now.

And it's basically the same with Brady. He's great but he plays on a fantastic team too. If you put him on a team like say Indy or Houston or a host of other teams and he wouldn't have made 9 SBs. He'd make those teams better don't get me wrong, but he wouldn't be in 9 SBs. In his early years, the Patriots had a dominant defense, and he's also had a very good O-Line for a long time. His consistency is admirable, I'll say that, but again, young guys like Mahomes need time to win SBs. And Mahomes might end up like Aaron Rodgers, or Drew Brees. Bundles of individual talent, but terrible defense and O-Line so he gets no help. Really this is about timing though. Back in 2000 or 2001 if this thread was made then many people would've said yeah I think I'll side with Kurt Warner over Tom Brady.

Yeah, McDavid right now is better than Crosby. We'll see if he can surpass peak Crosby.

 

[Bertie B]

There are no incentives.

Bernard Tomic has been heard boasting about having millions in the bank. Tomic has literally done nothing, yet he has made millions of dollars playing tennis. Talented young players don't have to work as hard as they used to to make a decent living. Nishikori is rumored to be making 5-10 million dollars per year.

Federer, Nadal, and Serena Williams are rare in the sense that the money isn't enough, they want more.

 

[Steve0904]

Let's be serious. Even at this stage of his career there is no QB anyone would rather have on his team in a big game instead of Tom Brady. We'll probably be saying the same thing in January 2020. And while Lebron is currently hurt, what he showed this year and his team's performance without him Lebron is still head and shoulders above everyone else at the best player in the game. The ones below him are all 29-31 with the sole exception of Giannis.

I am being serious. This doesn't mean dominant young athletes are rare. Brady can be great, but so can Mahomes. Lebron can be great, but so can Giannis. The two aren't mutually exclusive. And it's like I said to clout, young athletes by definition need time to make their own legacies. Mahomes might have 3 or 4 SB in the next 20 years. The only reason you pick Brady is because you've seen him be clutch time and time again whereas Mahomes (who went score for score with Brady last Sunday) is a rookie, and also a dead certainty to win NFL MVP.

 

[Deon Sanders]

There are no incentives.

Bernard Tomic has been heard boasting about having millions in the bank. Tomic has literally done nothing, yet he has made millions of dollars playing tennis. Talented young players don't have to work as hard as they used to to make a decent living. Nishikori is rumored to be making 5-10 million dollars per year.

Federer, Nadal, and Serena Williams are rare in the sense that the money isn't enough, they want more.

He makes significantly more than that

More like 50 million per year

And he hasn't done jack sheet since the US Open half a decade ago

 

[Bartelby]

If you halve prize monies on offer you will get an immediate slew of retirements.

It pays to stay and those that made it big have the resources to stay on top.

In sports without a lot of money on offer there is a greater turnover of talent.

Players also earn celebrity status, and its rewards, and that is enhanced by 'staying alive'.

 

[dblsplayer]

Advancements in fitness training and sports medicine. Before the tradeoff between young and old was fitness vs. experience. Nowadays the old guys are as fit or even more fit than the young ones and also have a lifetime of experience at the top of the sport. How the hell can you expect someone like Tsitsipas, a first time GS semi finalist, to stop someone like Nadal who has been in that situation dozens and dozens of times? It’s just not going to happen.

agree. it’s fitness (strength and conditioning), and nutrition (healthy). this trend started in tennis with Martina Navratilova and Nancy Lieberman. then the guys followed.

 

[WhiskeyEE]

It's definitely not the case in hockey. Of the current top 10 scoring leaders, 9/10 are between the ages of 21 and 25. The outlier is 30.

In the NBA, Lebron is the only scoring leader above 30. Curry and Durant are 30. The rest are in their 20s.

Compare that to tennis, where 7 of the current top 10 are 30 or above. The remaining 3 - Zverev, Thiem, and Nishikori, aren't even that relevant.

 

[lud]

Novak Djokovic: 'Me, Messi, Murray, Vettel: '87 is quite a good year'

 

[Bertie B]

He makes significantly more than that

More like 50 million per year

And he hasn't done jack sheet since the US Open half a decade ago

 

[bjsnider]

There are lots of great young star players in hockey right now. Most of the best players are 22 and under.

 

[Druss]

What are you talking about? Justin Gatlin is faster in 2018 than he was in 2004. Lots of fitness advancements there.

*ignores multiple doping suspensions.

Steroid advancements for sure. Gatlin is a well known ‘cheat’. Then again, I can say Lewis was faster in 1991 than he was in 1979. I think that’s why athletes train, to get faster. No different in the 80s as is now.

 

[The Shape-shifter]

That French team also faced some of the weakest competition ever seen in a World Cup. The entire tournament was abysmal.

How about Germany in 2014: the oldest guy was Phillip Lamp, 30.

And about Germany in 2010: removing Ballack actually helped them, because Ballack was too slow for Germany's 2010 game. They trashed England, the second oldest team in 2010, like playing a second-rate team. Older English players could not follow faster German guys.

 

[The Shape-shifter]

The 2006 French side which made to the final was pretty old. If I am right, the Italian side was also quite old.

That was long ago. During the last decade, the massive rise of tiqui-taca, and then pressing, and then gegen-pressing means that football teams always need significant presence of young guys in their starting 11 squads.

 

[TopspintheTerrible]

Because the examples you used are all time greats. LeBron, Messi and Ronaldo will dominate until they retire.

I’ve never thought it was a fair comparison between the NextGen and Fedalovic. Maybe one of them will win a slam soon. But every crop of new blood isn’t going to produce a legend.

 

[flanker2000fr]

I don't think it is the case in other sports. Someone did mention the French team who won the football world cup is one of the youngest ever. Mbappe is absolutely incredible, and he was 19 when he played that final.

As for tennis, I really do believe it is related to how physical the game has become. It has become brutal, and at 19 / 20 years old, most people haven't fully matured physically. This generally happens around 22 / 23, though there are exceptions (e.g. Nadal).

 

[Demented]

I'm confused by people comparing team sports to tennis. It's not nearly equatable. Go look at every other solo sport and you'll probably find the same trends. Peak endurance is achieved at like 35, that's why Rodger/Nole and Rafa are ripping these youngins a new one at every slam. If you don't have some sort of degenerative injury and your sport doesn't require 24 hour turn around for major events then a 30+ year old should dominate a 20 year old. Just use the basic rule of thumb that it takes 10000 hours doing something to become an expert. All of these players have put in 10 thousand hours practicing tennis by age 20, but the masters have put in 10 thousand hours PLAYING tennis at the pro level...

 

[Sudacafan]

Why are dominant young athletes so rare nowadays?

Because they can’t afford the best PEDs available.

 

[The Shape-shifter]

I'm confused by people comparing team sports to tennis. It's not nearly equatable. Go look at every other solo sport and you'll probably find the same trends. Peak endurance is achieved at like 35, that's why Rodger/Nole and Rafa are ripping these youngins a new one at every slam. If you don't have some sort of degenerative injury and your sport doesn't require 24 hour turn around for major events then a 30+ year old should dominate a 20 year old. Just use the basic rule of thumb that it takes 10000 hours doing something to become an expert. All of these players have put in 10 thousand hours practicing tennis by age 20, but the masters have put in 10 thousand hours PLAYING tennis at the pro level...

The consensus is that muscle strength peaks at mid-20. But modern tennis is more about endurance.

 

[Crisstti]

Advancements in fitness training and sports medicine. Before the tradeoff between young and old was fitness vs. experience. Nowadays the old guys are as fit or even more fit than the young ones and also have a lifetime of experience at the top of the sport. How the hell can you expect someone like Tsitsipas, a first time GS semi finalist, to stop someone like Nadal who has been in that situation dozens and dozens of times? It’s just not going to happen.

But fitness training and sports medicine should avour the young as much as the "old". It may explain why players can remain on the top for longer but doesn't explain why there are no top young players in tennis.

Rafa was a first time slam semi finalist in RG 2005.

 

[BeatlesFan]

It may explain why players can remain on the top for longer but doesn't explain why there are no top young players in tennis.

They're too addicted to their phones, social media and all that goes with a phone. I absolutely believe this is why young players have little ability to concentrate or focus. Their attention spans have been artificially altered by reliance on a phone, which takes precedence over anything else in their lives. Judy Murray has mentioned this and so has Annacone, and both obviously have coached at the highest levels of the tennis.

 

[AlexanderTheGreat08]

That French team also faced some of the weakest competition ever seen in a World Cup. The entire tournament was abysmal.

No way , Belgium and Uruguay are very strong sides , Argentina had problems but they had more experience and put a fight

 

[NatF]

There's just been no young ATG's if there was a 22-23 Djokovic or Nadal running around they'd definitely be contending for slams in way no other youngsters are.

 

[mental midget]

across all sports conditioning has let skilled athletes carry those skills further into their careers. in tennis, slower courts prioritize consistency and physical strength over first-strike shotmaking, giving 'punchers' less of a puncher's chance and tilting the advantage to experienced, battle-hardened pros over the kids.