Where are all the Teenagers in Tennis?

Gone are the days of Martina Hingis winning her first grand slam at the age of sixteen in 1997 and of Michael Chang winning a French Open title at the age of 17 in 1989. Tennis has seen a shift in the past few years, the top 10 is no longer littered with young teenagers hungry for success.

These days there are no teenagers in the ATP tours top 100 ranked players, Bernard Tomic and Ryan Harrison – 20 years old – Are in fact the youngest. You will have to search a long way down the rankings to find the highest ranked teenager – it is Jiri Vesely, ranked 204 in the world.

But surely the female tour has more teenagers? If this is the question you are asking then you would be correct, but the decline in teenagers on the WTA tour has been just as dramatic, if not more so than the ATP tour. The highest ranked teenager on the women’s tour is Brit Laura Robson who just turned 19 a few months ago – her current Buy Cialis ranking is 38.

Another sobering fact – the average age of the ATP tour top 10 in 2003 was 24. Let’s compare that ten years later to now, the average age is 27 and the youngest player in the top ten – Juan Martin Del Potro aged 24.

On the women’s tour the figures are similar – in 2003 the average age of the top 10 player was 23. The average age now is 26, with the youngest player, Caroline Wozniacki being 22 years old.

Year after year the statistics show the same thing, the sport is getting older. Why? No one can be sure to why this phenomenon is happening but players, experts and fans alike have their views. Age eligibility rules and increased physicality are amongst the main culprits.

On the home front, Australia’s highest ranked teenager is Ashleigh Barty – ranked 197 and still only aged 16. Nick Kyrgios – fresh off his Australian Open boy’s title win – is Australia’s highest ranked male teenager coming in at a ranking of 331. Kyrgios is 17 years old.