# 18 Grand Slam (AO 2017)

I just wanted to use the   emoji... I think it's so cool!  

I didn't open a separate topic for GS #19 as most of the celebration took place in the Wimbledon thread.

But you can use the main topic here: 'Awards, Records, Analysis and Stats (Main thread)' to comment on any of Rogers' records, or you can open a new topic for GS #19, if you think it's needed. It may be a good idea, actually, as the number of GS's is still a hot subject of discussion in the US Open QF thread right now. That discussion could be continued in this new topic?

Cromar wrote:I just wanted to use the   emoji... I think it's so cool!  

That's exactly what I was thinking when I used it... :lol!:

Don't know about the new topic, we'll see!!

Cromar wrote:
Here is another graphic of GS by age. Very similar to the one above, a bit clearer without Stan and Sampras: Just the 'Big Four'.  

Comparing age of first grand slam won, and grand slam won at what is considered an "older" age, one inevitably has to look at other aspects of these paramaters.

I start by Andy Roddick and other tennis comms considering this and issues such as who is going to continue to play well, or emerge from the next generation. First, regarding stats, Roddick wouldn't discuss Roger, saying "he is an outlier". He is perfectly right. RF does not fit into the average statistical rubrics of performance because he is outside of those parameters.

 As for younger players who haveen't achieved the breakthrough they and others expected, it's not just the dominance of the big four, or rather, only in the sense that they were physically tested and matured men, with the core stamina, lungs, and kind of "manly strength" that was necessary for era of power tennis, as described by an American commentator.

 Tennis was always played with power, but the new technologies allowed greater force and strength to be expended, with greater strain not just on wrists, elbows, shoulders, and the rest of the body, which is also impacted by absorbing and delivering those body blows. No matter how athletic, fit, in shape, many a younger player is, they do not yet have that fully developed enduring quality of strength that some older players have. Think of a Roman legionnaire compared to a hastily trained army. Greater talent counts, but there are matches when it comes down to core endurance to a greater extent than had been required before.

 Roger said it is natural for older player to get injured more, but what impresses me is how many younger players get injured, re-injured, and operated on. So the technology that allows for the display of greater power may also holding back otherwise talented and good players.

And it is not the game's scoring which should  be the answer, with shorter sets, no two point lead, no lets, and nannies on court. it would take away the breathstopping exchanges. the heightened tension of the Ad in games.
So will we have taller and taller players dominating, being a greater percentage of players on tour, and quick, shuttle like tennis that reduces the glorious variations of the game, and continue go unfold it, not reduce it and giving a starring role to racquet(and  to some extent, court surface) aspects, capabilities and technologies.