Dynamic duo costumes cartoons11/30/2023 ![]() Why is this? Although the giants were predicted to reign because of their huge serves, superior reach and added power they are usually less nimble. While there’s no doubt that the average player is much taller than in decades past, and the aforementioned 6ft 6in giants have won slams (many believe Del Potro is actually 6ft 7in and is tallest ever to win a major), the fact remains that the taller champions, those 6ft 4in and over, are still the exceptions. And then from the start of the pro tour in the late 1940s up until the beginning of Open tennis in 1968, it was a corps of Australian players who would rule the slams, a couple among them small in stature – Ken Rosewall (5ft 7in) and Rod Laver (5ft 8in), the man many viewed as the Goat before the era of the Big Three. There were several shorter players who were successful in the lead up to the second world war, including the notorious Bobby Riggs who was the epitome of an overachiever and won a trio of grand slam titles with his brilliant all-court play extracted from his 5ft 7in frame.Īfter the war, it was a pair of 6ft 2in Americans who would dominate the sport and usher in the first professional tennis tour – Jack Kramer and Pancho Gonzales. Tilden was 6ft 2in in an era when the average height of an American man was close to 5ft 7in or 5ft 8in.įollowing Tilden it was Don Budge and Fred Perry in the 1930s, both slightly taller than 6ft. And during the “tennis boom” era of the 1970s to the early 80s, it was a trio of great players all under six feet who ruled the sport: Jimmy Connors (5ft 10in), Björn Borg and John McEnroe (both 5ft 11in).īut going further back, examining the most dominant players since the sport became a truly international affair, a sizable majority were at least 6ft, starting with “Big” Bill Tilden in the 1920s. The only outlier among this group of luminaries is Agassi who, at 5ft 11in, was a throwback to the 1970s (player heights often vary depending on who you talk to so, for the sake of consistency, listed heights in this article are taken from the ATP website). And, except for the period from the mid 1950s to the late 60s when a few shorter Australians ruled the sport, the most dominant male players throughout the history of tennis have usually been slightly over 6ft.Ĭonsider those who have won three or more major titles on the men’s side in the last 40 years: Andy Murray, Boris Becker and Gustavo Kuerten (6ft 3in) Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Novak Djokovic (6ft 2in) Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal (6ft 1in), Stan Wawrinka and Mats Wilander (6ft) and Andre Agassi (5ft 11in). Indeed, men’s champions of the last 40 years have tended to be in this range. ![]() While there have been predictions for years that men’s tennis will eventually be dominated by giants like Medvedev, the fact remains there still appears to be an “ideal height” of around 6ft 1in or 6ft 2in.
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