The older they are, the better they get at sports.
The age-old adage that age is just a number seems to be true, particularly, in the world of sports today. The elderly are no longer confined to bridge tournaments and tea parties, as the traditional constraints of time and age seem to have become outdated with the advances in medical sciences and training methods. Modern athletes have found the elixir of eternal youth with protein shakes and physiotherapy sessions.
Swiss great Roger Federer won his 20th and last Grand Slam title — the 2018 Australian Open — when he was 36 and played a Wimbledon final with Novak Djokovic a year later that lasted longer than an average Netflix binge. Djokovic, now part of the 36-and-still-kicking club, continues to lord over tennis. He won three of the four Grand Slams in 2023 and is still ranked No. 1 despite losing the recent Australian Open semifinals to Jannik Sinner.
Federer, Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal have enjoyed a stranglehold over men’s tennis well into their mid-30s. Djokovic, the Benjamin Button of tennis, has won 12 Grand Slams since the big 30 milestone. Nadal and Federer, not to be outdone, have eight and four Slams, respectively, forming a triumvirate that has captured 66 out of 82 possible Slams since Federer’s maiden Wimbledon triumph in 2003.
Their utter dominance has birthed the “lost generation” in tennis — players younger than Djokovic have won a mere seven Grand Slam titles since Federer’s conquest over Mark Philippoussis in the 2003 final. Five of these rebellious victories have occurred in the last four years: Dominic Thiem won the 2020 U.S. Open, Daniil Medvedev (2021 U.S. Open), Carlos Alcaraz (2022 U.S. Open and 2023 Wimbledon), and Sinner (2024 Australian Open). Serena Williams, too, captured 12 Grand Slam titles — 10 singles and two doubles — since turning 30 .
Meanwhile, Djokovic shows no signs of slowing down and wants to play until he is 40, following in the footsteps of NFL great Tom Brady. Brady defied the odds and the laws of ageing to win seven Super Bowl titles in 23 seasons, while his fifth Super Bowl MVP came at the age of 43 in 2021. To put things into perspective, according to a study published by Chron.com, the online publication of the Houston Chronicle, in 2018, the average career span of an NFL quarterback is three years.
In India, as well, athletes are benefitting from better training and nutrition knowledge. At the recently concluded ODI World Cup, the country had the third oldest squad with an average age of 31.24 years, with Ravichandran Ashwin (37), Rohit Sharma (36) and Virat Kohli (35) as its three senior-most members. Rohan Bopanna, at 43, has also written his name in tennis history recently by becoming the oldest men’s Grand Slam winner and doubles No. 1 after partnering with 36-year-old Matthew Ebden to win the Australian Open. Sania Mirza, on her last Grand Slam outing, reached the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles at the age of 37 .
Clearly, in the 21st century, age — still an annoying, ever-increasing number of joint creaks and muscle twinges for the ordinary — is just a number for a motivated sportsperson. While, for us mere mortals, the descent into the abyss of ageing is often marked by a lamentable fixation on all things we are dreadfully declining at, for an athlete, it’s just another opportunity to defy the odds.
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