Mental maturity the key as Murray joins charge of the senior citizens
Briton turns 30 today with older generation still holding sway over the modern game
Had Andy Murray been born in the 1960s, he might have celebrated his 30th birthday – which falls today – with a rueful air. By the standards of the era, his tennis life would be all but over already.
Happily, the 1980s produced a more enduring vintage. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – who count 65 years between them – have also shared the season’s five biggest titles to date. And if 35-year-old Serena Williams did not happen to have a baby on board, she would still be bossing the women’s tour.
As Murray acknowledged yesterday: “When I was starting out, a lot of players would have stopped – or at least started to struggle – at maybe 31, 32. Just before I came on the tour, it was even as early as 28, 29. But now, if your body and your health are fine, there’s no reason why you can’t compete at the top into your early-to-mid-30s.”
Murray’s point is borne out by our statistical analysis ( below). Yet this is not solely about advances in science and medicine. Yes, 2016 might have finished with 39 thirtysomethings in the top 100, the highest figure ever. But the mid-1970s were also strong years for greybeards. Despite the fact that, in those days, the ice bath was where you kept your champagne.
The hidden factor, according to fitness trainer Jez Green, is the pace of play. “Look at Youtube and it’s clear that 1970s tennis was a much more stately affair,” says Green, who spent seven years in the Murray camp. “Then, in the 1980s, everything got quicker: the courts, the serves, the rallies. The older guys couldn’t keep up.
“Over the last 10 to 15 years, the surfaces have cooled down again. With the evolution of racket technology, you’re seeing longer points. That makes it challenging mentally for the young guys. Boris Becker could come on the tour in the mid-1980s and win Wimbledon straight away by hitting the ball incredibly hard. Now you have to build points, and it’s difficult against the older guys because they’re so mentally mature.”
The change in conditions is matched by an even more dramatic transformation in physical care. Federer has played 1,345 matches on the ATP tour and undergone just one operation, on a torn knee meniscus – sustained not while skipping back to hit a smash but while running a bath for his twin daughters last year.
“When you look at the previous generation,” says Green, “Andre Agassi basically never had a massage, and he didn’t stretch. The same for Becker. Pete Sampras did a bit of stuff but it was limited. A lot of guys were having a couple of beers of an evening, going out late.
“Nowadays, every player in the top 20 has their own physio, and they spend a minimum of two to three hours on the massage table, every single day. You’ve got the footwork drills, which Federer pioneered with his trainer Pierre Paganini. And then you’ve got the ice baths, the nutrition, the sleep science – the list just goes on.”
Green is well-placed to analyse fitness trends, after more than a decade in elite tennis. Having left Murray at the end of 2014, he signed up with Tomas Berdych, one of the most imposing physical specimens on the tour, and still a top-15 player in his 32nd year.
But Green’s primary responsibilities now lie with Alexander Zverev, the 20-year-old German prodigy tipped as a future world No 1. Green has also developed an app – Built4tennis – to help would-be pros tune up their physical and technical games.
Murray does at least get a day off today to enjoy a bite of cake, even though he said yesterday: “I don’t take too much notice of birthdays. The last time I was home on my birthday, I was 14.” His patchy season – which now stands at 16 wins from 22 matches – will not get any easier tomorrow. His opponent is another 1987 baby: the mercurial Italian No 1 Fabio Fognini, who will turn 30 on Wednesday week.
In the long run, Murray reckons that the likes of Zverev and Nick Kyrgios will probably decide how long the ‘Big Four’ legends continue for. “You don’t know how good the generation coming up is going to be,” he said, “and whether they’re better than the current players. If that’s the case, it’s going to be more difficult [to keep going]. So I’m hoping it’s not.”