Is ‘oldest’ the new ‘youngest’?

Boris Becker winning Wimbledon in 1985 when he was just 17

The world has a fascination for all things ‘youngest’. When Boris Becker won the Wimbledon when he was just 17, the world was raving about it for nearly 3 decades. People still talk about how a 16 year old Tendulkar braved the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younus in his debut series against Pakistan and also, about his scintillating century against England to save a test match for India when he was just 17 years old. Forbes publishes the list of 30 under 30 achievers, the list of world’s youngest billionaires so on and so forth.

But in recent years, there is a new shift that is pushing the batons from the ‘youngest’ to ‘oldest’ and Roger Federer’s most recent win at Wimbledon has given a whole new flavour to brand ‘oldest’.

Roger Federer,36, is the greatest tennis player to have ever played the sport with 19 grand slam titles including 8 titles at Wimbledon. When he won his last Grand Slam title in 2012, he was 31. Everyone started writing his swansong and fittingly so, since 31 is already too old in tennis standards. In an era of power hitting and athleticism, the sublime Swiss was no wonder written off. But he continued playing over the last 5 years and managed to secure 3 grand slam runner up positions. In 2016, he gave himself a big break and he came back in 2017 to win an epic 5 set Australian open final against arch rival Rafa Nadal. He again took a break from French Open and then, went on to win his 8th wimbledon title without dropping a set. At 36, he has 19 Grand Slams and he is still going strong.

2017 also saw two female warhorses battling age and odds to deliver some stunning performances. They are none other than the Williams sisters. At 35, Serena Williams won her 23rd career grand slam title at the Australian open and at 37, Venus Williams finished up as a runner up at Wimbledon fighting not just age but also, an auto immune disease.

It is not only in Tennis but in many other diverse sports we are witnessing the success of older players. Sachin Tendulkar, one of the greatest players to have played the game of cricket hanged his boots when he was 40. He played 24 years of competitive cricket having played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs. He achieved the most improbable feat of scoring a 200 in one day internationals at the age of 37 and another incomparable feat of 100 100s when he was 38. American swimmer Michael Phelps became the most decorated olympian of all time with 28 medals winning 5 golds and a silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Phelps was 31 when he went to Rio when the average age of rest of the US Olympic Swimmers was 23.3.

It is not only in sports but we can see this trend in other fields as well. The South Indian film star Rajinikanth is a case in point. When almost all his contemporaries and his junior actors fade away every 5 years, Rajinikanth commands an immense and devoted fan following even at the age of 65. His most recent film Kabali broke all box office records in Tamilnadu and he continues to stay on top of the industry for the last 3 decades.

Before anyone jumps into any conclusions that the old are getting better than the young, I have to present a caveat that all these players and the actor listed above are the best the respective field ever produced. This is not about old becoming better than the young but rather how the old sustain their longevity and emerge as the greatest ever in their respective profession. With that caveat, let us explore what leads to this re-emergence of champions who were written off?

Below are some of the reasons that I could think of that explains the late emergence of these great champions.

An unquenchable passion for the sport:

‘’When you do something best in life, you don’t really want to give that up — and for me it’s tennis’’ -Roger Federer

In the case of Federer, Tendulkar, Serena and Phelps, it is an unquenchable passion that pushes them to play the sport against all physical and mental odds. Players of this calibre don’t see an end in their mind and their talent usually is 5–10 years ahead of their peers at their peek. So it takes so much time for them to normalize their skill with the present benchmark offered by players who are one generation behind them. They cannot even think of stopping the game that is so dear to them

Play with clarity and play to the strengths

All these players start like any other great player to compete and win. After reaching the pinnacle of their sport, they have nobody else to compete. They have nothing more to prove to anyone and at this point, they transcend the win-loss duality. They are fine with a win and ready to take a loss but most importantly, they enjoy the game without any pressure and focus on longevity.

With nothing to prove and nobody to compete against, these champions do what matters most — Stay healthy and focus on the strengths. At this stage, it is not about fine tuning weaknesses but rather how to unleash their strengths in its utmost self expression. This is what made Federer to opt out of French open, a surface that doesn’t favor his style and instead, play at Wimbledon where he can play to his full strength in grass,his favourite surface.

Longevity makes economic sense too

In addition, the longevity also comes from the money that is available for sportsmen these days. Since each of these sportsmen have half of their lifetime to live, it is also natural for them to earn as much during their heydays. Roger Federer led all professional athletes with $60 million (out of a total of 67.8 Million earnings in 2016) earned in off-court brand endorsements according to The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes 2016 list compiled by Forbes. The Basel native’s commercial partners include Nike, Wilson, Rolex, Mercedes-Benz, Credit Suisse and Moët & Chandon.

With massive social media following and good looks, players like Cristiano Ronaldo (55M Twitter followers) and Virat Kohli (16.5 M Twitter followers), who are in their prime, will do everything possible to stay fit, play well and convert them into economic opportunities as well.

The longevity demonstrated by these top athletes and stars offer valuable lessons for the younger players. These players have also disrupted the rankings published by their respective sporting body. Federer is not the №1 in ATP rankings and Sachin was not the №1 in the ICC rankings towards the end of his career. But their relentless push has made them create a signature title called ‘greatest’ and ensured that no player ever could break their records. The ‘oldest’ champion tag is fast becoming the signature brand for the greatest champions in every sport and we are going to see more of it, thanks to the inspiration provided by Tendulkar, Federer, Serena and Phelps.

This article was published in Huffpost India: http://www.huffingtonpost.in/vijay-anand-raju/why-age-is-no-longer-a-barrier-in-competitive-sports_a_23050383/

Viji (விஜி)

Written by

Writer, எழுத்தாளன்

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade