Tag: age

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Gender Interactions in Tennis

The role of Gender Interactions in the tennis development spectrum is fairly widespread with most young girls and boys having the options to learn together opposed to being separated as result of their gender. More often the case in ‘other’ sports where only girls can play and/or only boys can play, the good news is this has been evolving over time and has gained further traction since the initial release of The Secrets to Optimal Coaching Success five years ago! However, there is still a substantial way to go until equal parity is reached but that doesn’t mean inroads can’t be made in respect to Gender Interactions to push our sport forward.

Often overlooked, the Top 3 on the ATP tour with 20 Grand Slams or more are often of discussion when it comes to the ‘G.O.A.T’ debate. Between these players are more than 60 Grand Slam titles. This means over the past 15 years (roughly) these three players have primarily been responsible for these Championship wins with merely a handful of other players that have come between i.e. Murray, Wawrinka to Del Potro. Of course, over the last 3-4 years this has started to change with the likes of Thiem, Medvedev to Alcaraz capturing their maiden Championship wins with Rudd to Tsitsipas as finalists. Of course, there are more players in the mix and these merely serve as examples, but there is quite a significant contrast here to the WTA tour which is often forgotten.

Serena Williams amassed 23 Grand Slams over a similar time period. As such, instead of ‘two’ other players being her primary competitor in contrast to the ATP’s Top 3, Serena had to compete against a significantly greater number of players who were responsible for sharing the equivalent of 40+ Grand Slams.

That’s phenomenal. This statistic is often ignored but when it comes to Gender Interactions it should be front and centre. The likes of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic were at their own respective levels and in turn shared 60+ Grand Slams between them with only a handful of other ‘contenders’ progressing to the Championship finals and walking away with the Championship. In simple terms, the quality of play on the ATP tour in comparison to these primary three went near unrivalled due to these varying levels of play. Interestingly, on the WTA tour this was not the case. By all accounts, it was dominated by Serena but at the same time the likes of Hingis, Venus, Henin, Sharapova, Azarenka, Kerber, Halep to Osaka were prime contenders who won multiple Championships whilst Serena was active and/or progressing towards her peak. More recent Grand Slam Champions, however, are not considered in this equation due to Serena’s retirement and/or her footprint not being synonymous with this state of play in her last season on tour.

Whilst there is a long running subjective discussion on Gender Interactions in tennis and varying standards, it is too often forgotten the role of physiology to biology. That is, men are physiologically different i.e. testosterone, and women are also physiologically different i.e. oestrogen. Not to mention various biomechanics differences each sex is born with, it is so important to be mindful of a women’s peak performance is in fact the “same” as a man’s peak performance. But, when these physiological to biological differences are accounted for, of course the metrics change. Why? Because testosterone and a male’s biomechanics are more aligned with these performances in contrast to a female’s physiology. As such, a women working at her max is still her max but it can only be sustained for a set period in contrast to a man’s due to these differences. For example, a man is more capable to withstand elite levels of play over 5 sets courtesy of his testosterone to his biology whereby a woman with higher amounts of oestrogen and substantially less amounts of testosterone is not as equipped to last this length of time and the 3 set format is more aligned with their performance being sustained at and/or of an equivalent benchmark.

Nonetheless, this does pose a very interesting question. If a male is to work towards those peak performance cycles, their max will look different to a female of the same calibre of play at their max. However, if these levels vary Gender Interactions should be more widely encouraged and this also underscores why a Top 200 male with heightened power output may assume the role as a hitting partner for a progressing WTA player. The power they have to offer to speed — courtesy of their biology, is rewarding for the female player’s progression as they combat their fellow opponents at similar levels. That’s right. This isn’t to say they can’t hit at this pace but at the same rate, these Gender Interactions afford an advantage by not practicing with your primary competitors. A wonderful example here is why Serena and Venus would practice together at the beginning of their career due to the power both women had developed and become accustomed towards. But tennis is more than power.

This is where the female delivers the advantage for male players. From craftiness to varying ball paces can force a male player to slow their game down as they work on these configurations of play before integrating power once more. And most WTA players have the power that packs a punch. Most ATP players do, too. But there are always exceptions to the rule where not all ATP players inside the Top 20, for example, use power and/or pace as their weapon of choice. The same applies on the WTA tour. Although there is one thing for sure and that is Gender Interactions are positive influences in a players game and the sooner these are ingrained in a developmental players progressions — for both boys and girls, the more versatile and agile a player’s game will become.

To learn more about Gender Interactions in Tennis, head on over to Beyond Top 10 Tennis and head to Episode 57. More? Catch up on our Tips over on TikTok, Twitter, Threads or Instagram for quick snippets to apply in your game, today.

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Age Interactions: Tennis Players

Outside of the developmental spectrum of the tennis player, Age Interactions are often commonplace with ‘age’ not being seen as a barrier to interact with other children and/or adolescents (within reason) and this is even more profound during adulthood whereby age truly is merely a number. This couldn’t be more true on the WTA and/or ATP tours where age is essentially irrelevant over ranking with the later taking precedence and age really an indicator of longevity in particular if a player is at the top of the game. At this moment in time, the ATP tour is privy to Top 10 players with a diverse age — from later 30’s to now on the cusp of 20’s onwards. With a near two-decade age gap the level of play resonates with the Top 10 and age really is irrelevant. Similar differences can be seen on the WTA tour, however, with the retirement of one of our most ‘senior’ players — Serena Williams, the age range begins in the late teens to still spans across early 30’s. Whilst players on the WTA tour are not as ‘senior’ as on the ATP tour, this can be argued due to a number of players outside the Top 10 who have reached the Top 10 in previous seasons now within and/or near that age bracket. Nonetheless, it also goes to show the irrelevance of age. Plus, it near goes without saying that a lot more women on the WTA tour have been taking time away from play (especially players who reside and/or formerly resided inside the Top 10) to begin a family and those on the ATP tour do not ‘need’ to take time away from tour for these typical life stages and as such, all the more emphasis should be placed on those on the WTA tour later in their career.

Insofar as the ‘senior’ player is it so important to touch on reality — those in their early and/or late 30’s are not classified as senior in their livelihoods and/or professions. As a matter of fact those within this age range are more often considered in the prime of their career opposed to at the end of it as typically is the case with the lifecycle of a tennis player. This also goes to highlight the immense ‘growing up’ stage demanded of players in contrast to those of identical ages and not inside the scope of the sporting spectrum. Too often expectations are placed on these ‘young adults’ well before full maturity and as such mishaps do happen. On the other hand, there are strategies to avoid these mishaps with greater mentoring from more ‘senior’ players and with that, shedding light on the benefits of Age Interactions from the beginning.

More so, Age Interactions can be incredibly helpful to a developmental players’ performance in contrast to being separated by ‘age’ and/or age ranges in contrast to skill and/or experience. Whilst both have their merits for varying reasons, both should also be encouraged to be interchanged within the training and/or practice environment to see age crossovers as well as skill crossovers. The advantages of Age Interactions of diverse ages affords a greater sense of self to maturity as these mimic the professional tour where age is really a number. On a similar note, removing age from the equation and putting like-skills with like-skills teaches players and/or athletes that skills can develop at varying rates irrespective of age and the importance of learning something ‘new’ from each interaction — whether the player is younger and/or older than the player, and/or the player is more skilled and/or less skilled than the player.

Both scenarios present incredibly powerful learning curves that should be taken advantage of and afford heightened performance progressions for the player.

By ensuring a mixed age environment whereby age is not considered as a performance indicator, this can help players/athletes from varying levels of experience interact and learn from one another. Whether that means a 9 year old who has been playing for 3 years, or a 14 year old who has also been playing for 3 years, both of these players align with similar performance progressions and as such have ample to offer the other player. The same may be considered for the 16 year old who has been playing for 5 years, to another 16 year old who is almost at the end of their initial 10 Years of Play. By all accounts performance expectations will be quite different, but having these players interact nonetheless can still be equally rewarding in varying lights.

Simply put, there is always something to be learned off an opponent that is younger, older and/or of the same age irrespective of skill level. Some will be the same age and match your skill level whilst some may be younger and of a higher level and/or older and of a higher level. Overall, age is really a number to consider secondary to performance.

By changing a player’s view on the importance of age and ultimate interactions affords a greater scope of the developmental demands of the player and their journey along The Pathway and ultimately imparting along The Long Game. At the end of the day both age and/or experience based interactions should be used and not merely one alone. Whether that means diversifying what one player is working on to the next, it’s equally important in the development of a well-rounded player who is conditioned to respect the game of their opponent, irrespective if junior or senior, and to ensure their game is their core focus. By keeping this focus, players are then enabled to set their sights on how they go about executing their game on a given day to ensure their performances continue to progress whilst avoiding the possibility of getting stuck in the ‘he’s better than me’ or ‘she’s younger than me’ loophole that has nothing conducive to offer the player’s overall development. If these views do develop, it becomes a reflection of the developed biases the player has picked up from their coach and/or parents based on age in contrast to setting the stage early for what the WTA and/or ATP tour has to offer — a diversified field based on performance whereby age really is just a number.

To learn more about Age Interactions: Tennis Players, head on over to Beyond Top 10 Tennis and head to Episode 55. More? Catch up on our Tips over on TikTok, Twitter, Threads or Instagram for quick snippets to apply in your game, today.