Former tennis player, Russian coach Dmitry Tursunov evaluated the game of young athletes in an interview with Telecom Asia Sport:
- You said that you don't watch men's tennis very often, but you took the time to watch some matches in the current tournament. As an expert on men's tennis, what trends can you pick out? Do you feel anything has changed?
- There aren't any obvious changes. I'd say the game is getting faster to a certain extent. I can't back that up with numbers, but there is a feeling that everyone is in better physical shape. Surprisingly, there are a lot of young guys playing pretty well. I think a lot of guys are getting in good physical shape very early on.
Take Alcaraz or Rune: when you look at them, you can't tell that they are 18-19 years old. They reach the peak of their form early, so their physical component is already complete. Yes, they can improve it, but having that kind of physique at 18 is an enormous advantage. They can even make up for their lack of experience and strategy with their good physical condition. I can't remember 18-year-old guys getting into this kind of shape so early, with the exception of Rafael Nadal.
- So tennis is getting younger, roughly speaking?
- I don't know how much younger it’s getting in general. Maybe it's just two guys like that that have just appeared. When I was playing, the athletes retired at 34, the generation before me retired in their 30s. Now tennis has evolved and athletes can play until they're 36-37, and some can play until they're 40. And it feels like Novak can play until he's 42-45 if he needs it badly. There's definitely a shift.
And I can't say that half of the tournament is 18-year-olds. There's not that many of them. But I haven't really looked into that stuff. It's just something that caught my eye.
