Why is it that almost every pro seems to go downhill at 26?

G

Gut Reaction

Banned
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost two grandslams.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
 
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G

Gut Reaction

Banned
tennishead93 said:
dude feds going into roland with a vengeance. but it will never get easier on him
Click to expand...

he wont even make it to the finals. he had his best chance last year and blew it.

In fact I heard the commentators says that Feds record in five setters is only average. he will never last five sets against Nadal.
 
CyBorg

CyBorg

Legend
I'd be careful before predicting Roger's demise. He's definitely past his peak, but one semifinal loss does not make him finished by no means. Sampras lasted a few years playing 'post-peak' tennis and averaging about a major a year. Roger's going to stay in the hunt for a while still we'll see him break Pete's record, but probably not this year.
 
G

Gut Reaction

Banned
CyBorg said:
I'd be careful before predicting Roger's demise. He's definitely past his peak, but one semifinal loss does not make him finished by no means. Sampras lasted a few years playing 'post-peak' tennis and averaging about a major a year. Roger's going to stay in the hunt for a while still we'll see him break Pete's record, but probably not this year.
Click to expand...

The point is though like all before him he is going down hill at 26 .....weird.
 
L

latinking

Professional
Gut Reaction said:
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost in the last two grandslams he has been in.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? He hasn't lost in the last 2 slams he has been in.
 
saram

saram

Legend
Gut Reaction said:
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost in the last two grandslams he has been in.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Agassi just sucked after 26. And McEnroe never won at ATP title after 26...oh wait, he did...at the age of 48!!!!!

And didn't Roger win the U.S. Open? I'm not a fan of Roger--but he's still the top dog and man to beat at any slam--including the french in '08.
 
G

Gut Reaction

Banned
saram said:
Yeah, Agassi just sucked after 26. And McEnroe never won at ATP title after 26...oh wait, he did...at the age of 48!!!!!

And didn't Roger win the U.S. Open? I'm not a fan of Roger--but he's still the top dog and man to beat at any slam--including the french in '08.
Click to expand...

That why I said "ALMOST" every pro. And I dont think you can count Macs doubles win because I was talking about grandslams and only singles. hell Santoro won grandslams over 30!!!!!!!!! but thats doubles...different world. Why don't you bring up Navratilova as well?
 
P

power_play21

Semi-Pro
gut reaction some people just like to nit pick peoples post to the little tiniest details, which is rather annoying.

anyways, yea, there is definitely something going on with performance in the late twenties. I think it might be a mixture of physiological and psychological reasons, as new up and comers play with more thirst and might still have that invincibility factor we all have when we are young. and of course, our peak is early twenties. From there on its all downhill (for the average 2.5 kids, white picket fence, golden retriever owning, toyota camry driving joe).
 
Nadal_Freak

Nadal_Freak

Banned
Yep tennis is a young players game. After 26 you lose some of your speed and tennis really amplifies it do to it being all about you.
 
saram

saram

Legend
In all honesty, I think it has to do with just being burnt out at or around that age. Most have played their entire lives and it probably loses its excitement and they lose their desire around that age.
 
G

Gut Reaction

Banned
saram said:
In all honesty, I think it has to do with just being burnt out at or around that age. Most have played their entire lives and it probably loses its excitement and they lose their desire around that age.
Click to expand...

Good point. Both Wilander and Borg felt this way. Wilander actually said that mowing the lawn became more interesting than tennis.
 
Tempest344

Tempest344

Professional
it is a pattern for sure

Hewitt is the same
he seems to have gone downhill slightly

perhaps because they lose the confidence and no fear they had from when they first burst onto the scene as late teens
then it seems they pick the confidence up when they are considered "old"
eg Moya last year

there are some players that don't get this though
 
Duzza

Duzza

Legend
Rod Laver born 1938:

Open Era:
1968 Wimbledon (3) Flag of Australia Tony Roche 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1969 Australian Open (3) Flag of Spain Andres Gimeno 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
1969 French Open (2) Flag of Australia Ken Rosewall 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1969 Wimbledon (4) Flag of Australia John Newcombe 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
1969 U.S. Open (2) Flag of Australia Tony Roche 7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Jimmy Connors born 1952:

1978 U.S. Open (3) Flag of Sweden Björn Borg 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
1982 Wimbledon (2) Flag of the United States John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4
1982 U.S. Open (4) Flag of Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
1983 U.S. Open (5) Flag of Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0

Pete Sampras born 1971:

1997 Australian Open (2nd) Flag of Spain Carlos Moyá 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
1997 Wimbledon (4th) Flag of France Cédric Pioline 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
1998 Wimbledon (5th) Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
1999 Wimbledon (6th) Flag of the United States Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
2000 Wimbledon (7th) Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
2002 U.S. Open (5th) Flag of the United States Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4



These are just their wins btw.
 
Leublu tennis

Leublu tennis

Legend
I presume we are talking about the better players and not the ones who quit to start hussling balls at country clubs. Can you name a few more players that fall into your category? Or are you drawing a conclusion based on a couple of players? Borg stands out in my mind as an early burnout but he did start his pro career at a very early age. Wasn't he on the circuit at 15 or 16?
 
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stormholloway

stormholloway

Legend
If Federer plays his best tennis, there's nobody in the world that can beat him, period.

All he has to do is pay attention and he wins. Hell, he won three slams last year. The only guys to do that in the past 30 years are Wilander and himself. How can there even be talk of his going downhill? Nobody talked about Sampras going downhill after he won two slams in a year, and Federer just won three.
 
T

!Tym

Hall of Fame
quest01 said:
Agassi never went downhill after 26.
Click to expand...

To be honest, I think Agassi's kind of a unique example in that he loved the spotlight too much to want to walk away with it. He much like Madonna is the type who will cling onto the limelight as long as they possibly can in my opinion. Some people are just drawn to the big lights, and Agassi was that guy, like a moth to a flame, he couldn't help himself. He needed the adulation of the crowds as much as he needed to eat breakfast in the morning and go to sleep at night.

In most sports, athletes don't really start peaking until 26 to the early 30s I'd say. It's the exact opposite of tennis.

Physically, there's no reason tennis players wouldn't be able to peak at that age. That's still young enough to maintain speed, AND also at a time when strength usually increases.

The reason tennis pros burn out so early has much more to do with their bodies not being able to hold up to the constant year round circust that is professional tennis. Or another way to put it, tennis players feel like they can never fully rest their injuries and take the time necessary to fully recover, because in tennis when you're not playing you're losing. There's no security like there is in team sports, because tennis is not a contract based sport. It's very much a sport where you must make your own destiny everyday of year. It's like having to make your bed every morning, after awhile it gets tiring.

This is particularly true from the mental aspect of tennis. The tennis pros lifestyle has to be I would think one of the worst imaginable among glamour sports. Traveling year round, having to live out of a suit case without teammates, and most of all having to FLY year round is what gets to players. As Pam Shriver said about retiring, "I just got tired of living out of a suitcase." Edberg was so traumatized by having to fly all the time, that he basically refuses to travel at all anymore. If he has to fly anywhere, he doesn't want to do it in other words, not even for the sport he grew up loving.

It's much easier for team sport athletes or pro fighters because they get charter flights, aren't lonely, get plenty of groupies like impressionable young Philadelphian reporters (just kidding), and most of all there is a REAL off-season.

Edberg used to complain about this issue all the time during his playing days, saying that all the other sports get a real off-season but not tennis, and that it's ridiculous and unfair to the players as we never get a chance to really rejuvinate ourselves both physically AND more importantly, more tellingly, mentally.

This is why when many top pros retire, you'll hear about how so and so basically didn't so much as touch a racket for months or years before starting to hit again in earnest. EVENTUALLY there love for the sport that was there from day 1 starts to come back and they can't resist hitting a little again, but in the immediate aftermath? Forget it.

They can't separate the pure joy of playing tennis for tennis' sake with all the nightmarish memories of having to travel and fly ALLLLLLLLLL the time with seemingly no end EVER in sight.
 
J

JohnP

Rookie
Maybe the fact that the game is always progressing and at age 26 there is already a set of players around age 20 who are starting to play a more advanced game? I think players aren't declining at age 26, there might just be a tendancy for their margin to the rest of the pack to grow smaller.
 
FEDEXP

FEDEXP

Professional
Gut Reaction,
Get a life; obviously for most tennis players it does get harder as one gets older but there is no rule and your insight is pretty trite.
 
H

Hooooon

Rookie
Gut Reaction said:
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost two grandslams.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
Click to expand...

agassi? sampras? bjorkman?......borg quit in his prime....
we saw the worst era of modern tennis after pete retired. hewitt, ferrero, moya and roddick (ewwwwwwww) all reached #1 before federer decided to give a hoot. djokovic, nalbandian (when he gives a hoot), nadal and tsonga (i hope for years to come) are all legitimate slam contenders, on a historical level as well. let's not act surprised at what's happening, it's freakin competition.
 
M

Morrissey

Guest
JohnP said:
Maybe the fact that the game is always progressing and at age 26 there is already a set of players around age 20 who are starting to play a more advanced game? I think players aren't declining at age 26, there might just be a tendancy for their margin to the rest of the pack to grow smaller.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. But Tym's post was good about it too.
 
ninman

ninman

Hall of Fame
Gut Reaction said:
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost two grandslams.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
Click to expand...

shut-up.jpg
 
P

predrag

Professional
Gut Reaction said:
Mcenroe never won a grand slam after the age of 26. Borg quit at 25. And now Fed is going to have a lot of trouble as he has lost two grandslams.

Its weird that players win far less after the age of 26.
Click to expand...

There is a reason for this.
Top condition for men is around 24-25.
This meaning that at 26 tennis players are slightly over the hill.
Just a bit, but not quite as quick as they were a year ago.
Because of all this, they started missing more. Again, slightly more, but enough for self doubt to start creeping in.

Agassi was different animal. Because of his life style he was never as good as he could have been.
Once he got serious about tennis he improved on his diet, started working out more and the rest is history.
Makes you wonder, what could have happened if he fulfilled his potential.

Regards, Predrag
 
G

Gut Reaction

Banned
Very funny.

Why dont you give me a list of what i am allowed to say and what i am not allowed to say. i think your list would look like this:

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest
 
A

AndyC

Semi-Pro
Duzza said:
Rod Laver born 1938:

Open Era:
1968 Wimbledon (3) Flag of Australia Tony Roche 6-3, 6-4, 6-2
1969 Australian Open (3) Flag of Spain Andres Gimeno 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
1969 French Open (2) Flag of Australia Ken Rosewall 6-4, 6-3, 6-4
1969 Wimbledon (4) Flag of Australia John Newcombe 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
1969 U.S. Open (2) Flag of Australia Tony Roche 7-9, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2

Jimmy Connors born 1952:

1978 U.S. Open (3) Flag of Sweden Björn Borg 6-4, 6-2, 6-2
1982 Wimbledon (2) Flag of the United States John McEnroe 3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4
1982 U.S. Open (4) Flag of Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
1983 U.S. Open (5) Flag of Czechoslovakia Ivan Lendl 6-3, 6-7, 7-5, 6-0

Pete Sampras born 1971:

1997 Australian Open (2nd) Flag of Spain Carlos Moyá 6-2, 6-3, 6-3
1997 Wimbledon (4th) Flag of France Cédric Pioline 6-4, 6-2, 6-4
1998 Wimbledon (5th) Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
1999 Wimbledon (6th) Flag of the United States Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 7-5
2000 Wimbledon (7th) Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2
2002 U.S. Open (5th) Flag of the United States Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4



These are just their wins btw.
Click to expand...

And don't forget Lendl

Born March 1960

1987 FO and USO
1989/1990 AO
 
flyer

flyer

Hall of Fame
saram said:
Yeah, Agassi just sucked after 26. And McEnroe never won at ATP title after 26...oh wait, he did...at the age of 48!!!!!

And didn't Roger win the U.S. Open? I'm not a fan of Roger--but he's still the top dog and man to beat at any slam--including the french in '08.
Click to expand...

Agassi is the exception, not the rule, and he said McEnroe never won a slam after 26, not an ATP title...read next time genius
 
zagor

zagor

Bionic Poster
Gut Reaction said:
Very funny.

Why dont you give me a list of what i am allowed to say and what i am not allowed to say. i think your list would look like this:

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest

Federer is the greatest
Click to expand...

No actully here is what you and the rest of the Nadal fanboys were saying since Federer lost in the semifinal:Federer is an arrogant p**k,Federer is finished,he should retire,he should switch to a larger racket,he should change his girlfriend,he should change to a two-handed backhand,he'll never beat Djokovic again,he'll never win another grandslam bla,bla,bla,bla.
Since you consider yourself a Nadal fan why do you not talk about your boy? Why is your every friggin post and thread about how Federer is this or that.For someone who hates Federer you sure do spent a lot of time talking about him and bashing him.Be prepared to eat crow when Federer wins another tournament but problem is that you'll disappear then.
 
daddy

daddy

Legend
^^^ Federer should switch to a bigger frame IMHO. ;)

LOL

Zagor, this is something which comes up every time he is playing badly, its like this place's joke on Fed.
 
zagor

zagor

Bionic Poster
daddy said:
^^^ Federer should switch to a bigger frame IMHO. ;)

LOL

Zagor, this is something which comes up every time he is playing badly, its like this place's joke on Fed.
Click to expand...

Yeah,that's because he has the smallest racket on tour so they think he should switch to a larger frame in order to have a chance at the FO which is ridicilous.I mean Courier won the FO twice even with a PS 85,his problem is not the racket it's Nadal.I don't like the guy too much but he is a beast on clay,he is like an improved version of Muster.
 
TennezSport

TennezSport

Hall of Fame
Let's take a look.............

The tennis players who have had negative results after the age of 26 is more about mental issues than physical. The male body peeks between the ages of 26 and 32. These are the strongest years as the body has finally stopped growing and on cruise control, if you will. Also, brain development is complete around 26 years, so players become better thinkers.

However, what usually happens by this time for a tennis player is that they have 10 to 15 years of mental bagage and maybe a number of lingering injuries that are nagging or more serious. Especially players who have had a defensive running game style all of their lives (Borg, Chang, Wilander, etc.).

McEnroe is a bad example to use, as his game was always based on touch and finesse and the power game came along and took that away from him. Also remember back then that Mc was on the Haagen Daaz diet and did not take training seriously until much later.

Fed so far does not have any of these issues to slow him down. His game is effecient and doesn't wear on him physically. He is also one of the best tacticians to have ever played the game, which will help him greatly as he ages. Coach Roach stated that Fed will be his best and most dangerous, by age 27-29 as he improves his second serve and volley/all court game(as long as they do not slow anymore surfaces down :( ).

Agassi got faster as he got older due to his improved training regime, until injury took him out (partly due to being severly pigeon toed). If Fed is as smart as I think he is, he will up his training accordingly (of course barring any serious injuries).

Yes Fed may not win 3 GS per year, but he will be a great danger (even on clay) for some time yet.

TennezSport :cool:
 
daddy

daddy

Legend
zagor said:
Yeah,that's because he has the smallest racket on tour so they think he should switch to a larger frame in order to have a chance at the FO which is ridicilous.I mean Courier won the FO twice even with a PS 85,his problem is not the racket it's Nadal.I don't like the guy too much but he is a beast on clay,he is like an improved version of Muster.
Click to expand...

But nadal has a 100sq inches ? he should really ... ;) im not gonna go there but this is really not serious, when you see a post like that just give it a lol and thats all. I know whats his problem on clay. A guy who has a 150-1 record in last 4 seasons on clay.
 
D

Deleted member 3771

Guest
do you remember all the reasons Fed gave for upgrading from a 85 inch racket to a 90? He said that he specifically upgraded because he was shanking too much and also needed a bigger racquet in order to maintain rallys longer without missing. The same theory should appy when upgrading now again. He's missing too much so he needs to switch to a 100" racquet. :)

zagor said:
Yeah,that's because he has the smallest racket on tour so they think he should switch to a larger frame in order to have a chance at the FO which is ridicilous.I mean Courier won the FO twice even with a PS 85,his problem is not the racket it's Nadal.I don't like the guy too much but he is a beast on clay,he is like an improved version of Muster.
Click to expand...
 
daddy

daddy

Legend
^^^ He should switch to Agassi style 120 period. Dont want to hear any different opinions. thanks. ;)
 
G

Gut Reaction

Banned
daddy said:
^^^ Federer should switch to a bigger frame IMHO. ;)

LOL

Zagor, this is something which comes up every time he is playing badly, its like this place's joke on Fed.
Click to expand...

you know what that say..... The size of mans racquet is in direct proportion to the size of his........;)
 
S

stoneagle

Rookie
most tennis players, when they reach 25 yrs old and up, from there your
body starts to decline. some reasons: injuries, worn out legs, loosing
strength,less oxygen intake produce in our blood system. our body
as we get older we produce less oxygen in our
blood system compare to a younger body between 13-22 yr old body.
when our body produces less oxygen,because of maturity we feel less
strong and our muscles decrease in strength. therefore our bodies become weaker
and weaker as we get older. the players skills always there,but
their strenght will not be there forever for their body. that is why if you
compare the body of a 36 yr old to 26 yrs old is no strenght comparison.
the only way to match the younger age is to train triple, but that is too
hard for an older body to take.
 
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