The Roar
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The future of tennis lies in the physical battle

Roar Rookie
12th February, 2015
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Nick Krygios continues to confuse and frustrate. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
Roar Rookie
12th February, 2015
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In 1985 Boris Becker, an unseeded 17-year-old, served his way to the Wimbledon title, beating eighth seed Kevin Curren in the final.

The charismatic redheaded German sent crowds a gasp as he dived on the eminent green grass of All England Club.

Despite the surprise, it was not uncommon to see teenagers taking the most prestigious titles in the sport. Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Stefan Edberg, Mats Wilander and Bjorn Borg all entered the elite list of grand slam winners as teenagers between 1970 and 1990.

Since then, only one man has been able to accomplish the feat: Rafael Nadal at the 2005 French Open.

Tennis has transformed into a sport that requires a herculean level of fitness, and it easily ranks as one of the toughest sports. Anyone who watched the opening sets of the most recent Australian Open final would agree that the level of fitness required has put aspiring teenagers’ dreams of grand slam glory to bed.

The era in which teenagers could successfully reach the final of grand slams has gone. This is in part because it takes them longer to develop the strong mental game necessary to make it to the latter stages of the second week, but is more to do with the increase in physical fitness necessary.

19-year-old Nick Kyrgios rocketed on to the stage at Wimbledon last year, beating Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter finals. However he was unable to overcome Milos Raonic in part due to a lack of energy.

Kyrgios exhibits the same sort of talent and flare that brought Becker to Wimbledon glory back in ’85, but the fact is the top players are now too advanced physically for a repeat shock.

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It has been an occurring theme that tennis players start to peak around the age of 25, when their bodies have been able to fully develop and put on the muscle necessary to take them through five sets. Teenagers simply have not had the time to develop enough to challenge the likes of Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Djokovic and Murrary have both displayed their best tennis after periods of physical transformation. Both originally suffered with lasting five sets but are now easily the two fittest players on tour. It was therefore no surprise that the two made the final of the Australian Open.

The standard of tennis in the first two sets was nothing short of extraordinary, with rallies spanning 27 shots long and players covering 60 metres a point while hitting the ball as hard as seemingly possible.

The change in physicality marks the end of grand slam victories for Roger Federer. Despite his change in style, it is hard to see him compete in a match with the intensity seen in the Australian Open final at the end of two weeks of tennis.

Rafael Nadal is a bit of an enigma as he has the age and ability to still be one of the fittest out on tour; whether he can overcome his injury issues in time to build up to ultimate fitness once more is another question. At the age of 28, given his style of play and reoccurring injury niggles, I cannot see him returning to the powerhouse status he once was.

With regards to surging young talent, Grigor Dimitrov must be the man to look to. He has displayed the talent necessary from a very early age, much like Kyrgios, however from the display he put on against Murray a few weeks ago, he now has the mental and physical game necessary to challenge for grand slam titles.

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