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Pro Tennis Player Demographics
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Want to be one of the top-ranked tennis players in the world? You might increase your chances if you match up with the top 10 players in world in terms of age, height, weight, and perhaps, where you were born.
Top 10 Men's Demographics
Going into the 2008 season, the average top 10 ATP player was 25.1 years old, six feet tall, and weighed 173.5 pounds. The oldest player was Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, who is 28. The youngest, at 21, is Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
The tallest were 6'2" (Novak Djokovic of Russia and Andy Roddick of the United States), and the shortest was 5'10" (David Ferrer of Spain). The tallest ranked player in the world is American and former University of Georgia star John Isner at 6'0", who was ranked 106th at the end of 2007.
Three of the top 10 are from Spain and only one—Roddick—was born in the United States. American Davis Cupper James Blake is ranked 13th, and the next highest ranked American singles players is Mardy Fish at 39th.
Elite men's doubles players are bigger and heavier than their singles counterparts. The number one team in the world is Bob and Mike Bryan, who are 6'4" and 6'3", 202 and 192 pounds, respectively. The average top five doubles player is an inch and a half taller (6'1 1/2" to 6") and 10 pounds heavier (183 to 173) than the average top 10 singles player.
Only one singles player in the top ten is left-handed (Rafael Nadal), but there is a left-hander on each of the world's top three doubles teams.
Top 10 Women's Demographics
According to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, the average female player in the top ten is 23.9 years old, 5'9 1/2", and weighs 140 pounds. The tallest is Maria Sharapova at 6'2", and the shortest is Justine Henin 5'5 3/4" who is ranked number one. All 10 women are right-handed and nine out of 10 use a two-handed backhand. Henin is the only one-handed backhand player.
Serena and Venus are 5'9" and 6'1", respectively, and they are the only Americans in the top 10. Lindsay Davenport is making a comeback and probably would have been ranked in the top 10 had she played a full schedule of tournaments. She is one of the tallest women stars in the world at 6'2 1/2".
Three players are from Russia (Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze) and two are from Serbia (Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic).
Size Matters
Players of almost any height, weight, and country of origin can be great, but the trend is toward taller men and women than a decade ago. The numbers also tell us that the United States is far from dominating the world rankings. Only seven American men and 10 women are listed among the top 100 players.
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