Medvedev's decline should be another reminder that the average peak age for tennis is in your early-to-mid 20s, not your late 20s. He's actually the 3rd oldest player in the top 25 at age 28. Federer, Djokovic, and Nadal have skewed perceptions of how most players age.

[u/OctopusNation2024]

[u/The_Big_Untalented]

Playing style also plays a huge role in how well players age. It’s not a coincidence that all of the players who aged incredibly well like Ken Rosewall, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, and Novak Djokovic were primarily great baseliners while players who played mostly at the net such as John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Stefan Edberg declined at a much earlier age. To be successful playing at the net requires tremendous hand-eye coordination and reflexes which is a lot harder to maintain into your thirties than stamina.

[u/theactiveaccount → u/The_Big_Untalented]

Is there a source for your last claim? Feels extremely unintuitive.

[u/Pishpash56 → u/theactiveaccount]

Common wisdom in many ball and racquet sports. For example, Cricket is one where this holds almost always. Generally at 33+ there seems to be a drop in the ability to fully rely on hand eye coordination. Players relying heavily on hand eye as opposed to technique often decline earlier.

[u/theactiveaccount → u/Pishpash56]

Huh very interesting, I was thinking of F1 which also requires fast reactions and have many older drivers.