LOL. No one is doping and Federer is crushing grand slam tournaments at 38 years of age because he moves around the court like a cat
I mean don’t get me wrong, I completely endorse any sports fan’s right to enjoy their chosen sport and not give a shit about doping. I’m a football fan, which is the biggest sport in the world, doping is almost certainly rife, and no one cares.
But that doesn’t mean you get to earnestly defend the indefensible with risible statements liek the WTA is not shying away from testing - you must recognise the tacit agreement which exists between you, the governing body of the sport, and the athletes.
You said it yourself, you don’t want to pay to watch Kevin Anderson take on Tsisipas. You do want to see a geriatric (in tennsi terms) Rafa and Fed, legends of the game, go head to head and duel it out in a grand slam. Like seeing Keith Richards and Mick Jagger on stage, only with less drugs. There’s a price to be paid for that, but fortunately every stakeholder’s (you, the WTA, and the players) incentives are aligned.
This is probably what explains it better than anything. Before, although there was some ideas as to what to do to get ready for a match, there wasn’t as much thought as to what to do immediately after to help you recuperate. Also, there is a lot better understanding as to what exercises to do that will help develop your tennis skills in particular instead of a general fitness regimen. And yes, equipment has improved as well with things such as even shoes being tailored specifically for a player.
In the specific case of Roger Federer, people tend to forget that he has always been very good a managing his schedule, even when he was younger. For example, he took almost a whole month in 2007 after Wimbledon. He has never really been the type to try to play a tournament every week, which has helped prolong his career.
Their are rumors surrounding Rafa for sure. If memory serves, the talk was he was involved in the operation puerto blood doping scandal with the footballers and cyclists. That’s just rumors though. Blood doping makes sense with him considering his stamina.
There are also rumors surrounding shiner, but those are a little less focused.
It would be hypocritical of me to say Federer was clean. No one could possibly know.
Serena is helped out by weak competition. Clijsters and Justine Henin did as well as anyone did, but their careers were short.
Ken Rosewall won a grand slam title at 37. He made it to the finals of the U.S. Open just shy of his 40th birthday. He won two events when he was 43, and played on the tour until he was 47.
Andre Agassi made it to the finals of the U.S. Open at 35.
There are many players that remained competitive on the tour into their mid to late 30’s, right from the beginning of pro tennis.
So the unusual numbers of mid-30’s winners now could just be variance.
That said, if anything is different with the men it would be the change in the game due to equipment. Me don’t have nearly the number of long rallies they used to have. They probably take less of a toll, on their knees and backs than they used to, And perhaps don’t need as much cardio endurance as they once did.
Are you sure about the long rallies? My understanding was the modern game has more long baseline rallies than ever before, as opposed to the good old days when there was much more serve and volley on all surfaces.
Rosewall was a major outlyer and also played back when the game was less competitive - not everyone even traveled to Australia for the Australian Open, for instance. Look at most of the big names from the 80s and 90s and they not only weren’t competitive at 30, most of them had their best days behind them by 25 - that’s something that’s definitely changed in the Fed/Rafa/Novak era.
Incorrect. If any anything, we’re currently in an era of comparatively longer rallies than ever. The 90’s especially was rife (and quite annoyingly, IMO) with short rallies, with serve-and volley meisters like Pete Sampras, and before him, in the previous decade, John McEnroe, Roscoe Tanner, and Stephan Edberg, and a decade before them - Rod Laver, and a decade and-a-half before Laver - Jack Kramer. All of them dominating the game, all of them primarily known for their serve and volleying.
With the ascendancy of Agassi, the return of serve evolved from defense to attack (along with increased use of the two-handed back-hand), making it more difficult for the server to approach the net, almost singlehandedly ushering in a still-as-yet-unabated downturn in the serve and volley game, which I doubt strongly will ever come back.
In the men’s top 100, only one player - Alexander Zverev’s brother, Mischa - has been considered a serve and volleyer.
