The older they’re, the higher they get at sports activities.
The age-old adage that age is only a quantity appears to be true, notably, on this planet of sports activities at the moment. The aged are now not confined to bridge tournaments and tea events, as the normal constraints of time and age appear to have grow to be outdated with the advances in medical sciences and coaching strategies. Fashionable athletes have discovered the elixir of everlasting youth with protein shakes and physiotherapy periods.
Swiss nice Roger Federer received his twentieth and final Grand Slam title — the 2018 Australian Open — when he was 36 and performed a Wimbledon remaining with Novak Djokovic a yr later that lasted longer than a median Netflix binge. Djokovic, now a part of the 36-and-still-kicking membership, continues to lord over tennis. He received three of the 4 Grand Slams in 2023 and continues to be ranked No. 1 regardless of shedding the latest Australian Open semifinals to Jannik Sinner.
Federer, Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal have loved a stranglehold over males’s tennis nicely into their mid-30s. Djokovic, the Benjamin Button of tennis, has received 12 Grand Slams because the massive 30 milestone. Nadal and Federer, to not be outdone, have eight and 4 Slams, respectively, forming a triumvirate that has captured 66 out of 82 potential Slams since Federer’s maiden Wimbledon triumph in 2003.
Their utter dominance has birthed the “misplaced technology” in tennis — gamers youthful than Djokovic have received a mere seven Grand Slam titles since Federer’s conquest over Mark Philippoussis within the 2003 remaining. 5 of those rebellious victories have occurred within the final 4 years: Dominic Thiem received 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).
In the meantime, Djokovic reveals no indicators of slowing down and desires to play till he’s 40, following within the footsteps of NFL nice Tom Brady. Brady defied the percentages and the legal guidelines of ageing to win seven Tremendous Bowl titles in 23 seasons, whereas his fifth Tremendous Bowl MVP got here on the age of 43 in 2021. To place issues into perspective, based on a examine revealed by Chron.com, the net publication of the Houston Chronicle, in 2018, the common profession span of an NFL quarterback is three years.
In India, as nicely, athletes are benefitting from higher coaching and diet information. On the just lately concluded ODI World Cup, the nation had the third oldest squad with a median 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 additionally written his title in tennis historical past just lately by turning into the oldest males’s Grand Slam winner and doubles No. 1 after partnering with 36-year-old Matthew Ebden to win the Australian Open.
Clearly, within the twenty first century, age — nonetheless an annoying, ever-increasing variety of joint creaks and muscle twinges for the bizarre — is only a quantity for a motivated sportsperson. Whereas, for us mere mortals, the descent into the abyss of ageing is usually marked by a lamentable fixation on all issues we’re dreadfully declining at, for an athlete, it’s simply one other alternative to defy the percentages.