Average Age of Top 10 Youngest in 13 Years
The year-end Top 10 South African Airways ATP Rankings feature three players 21-under, led by No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Novak Djokovic (pictured).
Nadal is 21 and Djokovic is 20 while No. 8 Richard Gasquet is 21. The oldest player in the year-end Top 10 is 27-year-old Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who finished No. 7.
The average age of players in the Top 10 is 24.1 years (see chart below), the youngest average of that group since 1994. No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko and World No. 1 Roger Federer are the next oldest players in the Top 10 at 26 years old. There are four players who are 25 -- No. 5 David Ferrer, No. 6 Andy Roddick, No. 9 David Nalbandian and No. 10 Tommy Robredo.
The average age of the Top 20 is 25.1 years, up from last year's mark of 23.6. The oldest player in the Top 20 is 31-year-old Spaniard Carlos Moya. British No. 1 Andy Murray, who finished a year-end best No. 11, is the second-youngest player at 20 years old, seven days older than Djokovic.
The charts below show the age breakdown of the 2007 year-end Top 20 and a historical comparison of the average age of the year-end Top 10 and Top 20:
2007 Year-end ATP Rankings Top 20 (as of Nov. 19)
Ranking Player Age
1 Roger Federer 26
2 Rafael Nadal 21
3 Novak Djokovic 20
4 Nikolay Davydenko 26
5 David Ferrer 25
6 Andy Roddick 25
7 Fernando Gonzalez 27
8 Richard Gasquet 21
9 David Nalbandian 25
10 Tommy Robredo 25
11 Andy Murray 20
12 Tommy Haas 29
13 James Blake 27
14 Tomas Berdych 22
15 Guillermo Canas 29
16 Marcos Baghdatis 22
17 Carlos Moya 31
18 Ivan Ljubicic 28
19 Mikhail Youzhny 25
20 Juan Ignacio Chela 28
It's hard from one years stats to work out whether there is a trend, but it certainly feels like the players are getting younger, as the years go by-even if it's a slight change.
I'm trying to think of a player who was 30 years or older to win a slam, em was it Pete, not sure but it's certainly becoming a rare event.
| QUOTE (BIG-TODGER @ Dec 24 2007, 03:05 PM) |
It's hard from one years stats to work out whether there is a trend, but it certainly feels like the players are getting younger, as the years go by-even if it's a slight change.
I'm trying to think of a player who was 30 years or older to win a slam, em was it Pete, not sure but it's certainly becoming a rare event. |
I think the last two over 30's to win a slam were Pete Sampras at the US Open in 2002 and Andre Agassi at the Aussie Open in 2003. I can't seem to remember anyone else recently....
To add to that Andre won the 2001 Aussie Open when he was over 30 as well. Quite an achievement to have two slam wins when you are over 30 years of age.