re: Why do tennis players get old faster than any other sport

He'll be back, but he won't admit he was way off about Agassi being the oldest.

He will forge on with some other argument, dodge and deflect. Remember he IS the final authority on all things tennis on the MSB...in his mind.

I put him to the test in another tennis thread about Serena not measuring up (total titles, majors, win%) to the top5-6 all time greats and he fled.

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LINK

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I did say the open era, and for that I should apologize. I figured people posting in a goddamn tennis thread knew something about the history of the sport. And you clearly don't.

The Open era did technically begin in 1968. And then from 1968-1973, we have what I like to refer to as the "full on cluster-frick" era. From 1974-1977 we have what I like to refer to as the "only slightly cluster frick" era. And then in 1978, upon the integration of the Grand Prix and the WCT and the French Open lifting its ban on players that participated in world team tennis, we begin what I like to refer to as "The Modern Era of Tennis".

You know what...actually I'm not going to explain this to you. I'm going to copy and paste in a portion of a Wikipedia article. You can research further on your own.

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Tour rivalries and the origin of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP)
The first WCT tournaments were held in February 1968 and the first NTL tournaments in March 1969. In spring 1970, the WCT absorbed the NTL.

At the end of 1970, a panel of journalists ranked the players, leading the WCT to send invitations to the 32 top men to play the 1971 WCT circuit: among the 32, Ilie Nastase, Stan Smith, Jan Kodeš, Željko Franulovic and Clark Graebner stayed independent. In 1971, the WCT ran 20 tournaments and the year-ending WCT Finals. In 1971, the majority of the best players still mainly played the WCT circuit.

The Australian Open was a WCT competition whereas Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Forest Hills were ILTF Grand Prix events. The conflict between the two groups got so strong in 1971 that Rosewall, Gimeno, Laver, Emerson and some other WCT players didn't play at the 1971 US Open, although Newcombe played and lost in the first round to Kodes. Bill Riordan (future manager of Jimmy Connors) complicated matters further with a third professional tour, the U.S. Indoor Circuit.

In 1972, the war between the ILTF and the WCT culminated in the ILTF banning the contract pro players from all ILTF Grand Prix events between January and July, which included the 1972 French Open and 1972 Wimbledon. At the 1972 US Open, all the players attended and agreed to form a player syndicate to protect themselves from the promoters and associations. Thus was born the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in September 1972.

In 1973, there were four rival pro circuits: the WCT circuit, the Grand Prix circuit, the U.S. indoor circuit with Connors and Ilie Nastase and the European Spring Circuit with Nastase as their star. During the year, the ILTF banned Nikola Pilic from 1973 Wimbledon, due to Pilic's alleged refusal to play in Yugoslavia's Davis Cup tie against New Zealand. In retaliation, 81 out of 84 of Pilic's fellow players who were ATP members, boycotted 1973 Wimbledon in response, saying that professional players should have the right of deciding whether to play Davis Cup matches or not. The only ATP players who refused to boycott 1973 Wimbledon were Ilie Nastase, Roger Taylor and Ray Keldie. They were later fined by the ATP for their participation in the tournament.

Between 1974 and 1978, any tennis player that participated in World TeamTennis was banned by the French Tennis Federation from playing in the French Open in the same calendar year

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So Agassi is the oldest player in both the modern era of tennis and the only slightly cluster frick era of tennis to win a major.

Shall we proceed?

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nice. well at first you are listing names like Jordan. Dirk Nowitzki. Kobe Bryant. Jason Kidd. Kevin Garnett. Paul Pierce. Steve Nash.

then all of a sudden you want to start listing names like Mike Bibby. Mike Bibby isnt the outlier type player that we were originally talking about

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What is the significance of these words that you typed? More succinctly, what in the world is your point? Do you have an actual argument that basketball players age as fast as tennis players? What is it that you do here at initech?

Do you have anything to refute the fact that nearly every elite basketball player now and in the past 20 years has remained elite well into their 30s? And that one -- I repeat one -- tennis player has pulled off this same trick. Do you even understand what we're talking about? Or do you just aimlessly float in and out of the thread posting gibberish and then scurrying along?

If you don't have an actual, positive argument that you would like to articulate, then for the love of all things sacred stop wasting electrons.

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I put him to the test in another tennis thread about Serena not measuring up (total titles, majors, win%) to the top5-6 all time greats and he fled.

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And all we established is that you are a bigot.

I make reasonable arguments, and I insert a dozen quotes from Chris Evert herself that Serena is better than she ever was, and then you come back and smartly argue that Evert was better than Serena.

So then I punch myself in the face, and I leave the thread.

Here is another for you, you racist fricking a-hole.

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"I've seen them all, Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert was a machine... Monica Seles, Steffi Graf but I believe we're watching the greatest female player that's ever played this game.
--John Mcenroe

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He'll be back, but he won't admit he was way off about Agassi being the oldest.

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See my other post.

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You just got owned, smart guy.

The only 4-year old here is you. And you're always in tennis threads arguing the same way.

Take your 4.5 tennis greatness and expertise bullshite back to the sandbox.

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You are a bigot. Please stop posting.

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I did say the open era, and for that I should apologize. I figured people posting in a goddamn tennis thread knew something about the history of the sport. And you clearly don't.

The Open era did technically begin in 1968.

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Jones, I told youu the 4-year old would return and not admit his was wrong, but proceed to dodge and deflect...

Bobby, The link he posted is indeed THE OPEN era in which Agassi clearly is not the oldest to win a major.

All your wiki articles and technicalities doesn't mean shite. The Open era started in '68 period. Admit it and move on.

Chris trying to be humble and saying Serena is better than her doesn't mean nothing. It's kinda like white people voting for Obama just to prove they ain't racist. It's for show.

Now prove how Serena's record can stand up to the top-6 players of all time by posting total titles, majors, win % of each....

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Did you read the information? When only half of the players play in the "major", then it is a "major" in name only.

Andre Agassi is the oldest player to win a major event that included ALL of the best players in the game of tennis. Fair enough? Great.

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It's still the Open era no matter how YOU are trying to define it. You were wrong and still are.

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Chris isn't humble. She said she would beat Martina Hingis. You are an abject bigot, and you are also a failure in both posting and in life.

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Never said Chris was humble, but she is biased in her opinions.

The 4-year old is coming out again.

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Top 6? Is it too late for us to schedule a post-birth abortion for you?

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4-year old argument

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This issue came out two years ago.

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OK, I was wrong. She doesn't look like a silverback there, but she does look like King Kong. Freaking ugly!

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She's the best ever.

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Because Chris and SI say so?

Post the numbers to prove their point....and yours. You scared?

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I'm sorry that you dislike her because you are a bigot and at some point during some dream you had she laughed at your small penis and you've just never gotten over that feeling of inadequacy.

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Another 4-year old post.

But you have a weird obsession over the size of other's penis and wanting to have other dudes suck yours. You are strange.

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So you pick a list of some of the greatest to ever play?

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Uh, yeah, I guess they would have to be pretty good to excel past their 30's. That's the whole point. And that was just off the top of my head. How many tennis players can you name that were great into their 30's.

Another factor nobody has mentioned is that the better you are as a tennis player the more matches you play. And the quality of your opponent increases as you advance through a tournament. Thus, the wear and tear is considerably greater for a champion than for an also ran.

As a tennis player ages his game gets studied and players tailor their games to counter the style of the best players. This also makes it harder for a tennis player to remain a championship competitor as he is more likely to run into a player in early rounds who has a game that can beat him, and is motivated to beat a legend, if he is not at top form.

Finally, tennis is a one loss and you're out sport. Your winning percentage could drop from 90% to 80% and you go from a champion to a not making it out of the semi's player. And while making it to the semi's would be a thrill for many, it is something the champion takes for granted, and losing there, or earlier, is a major let down. It is tough for the aging player to find the motivation to increase their preparation to improve their game as their physical fitness starts declining or the decline accelerates..