Tennis is a Young Man’s (or Woman’s) Sport

They say tennis is a sport for the young. Professional tennis, that is. Club players can play tennis as long as they can still swing a racket and run a few steps. I was watching an interview with Sania Mirza where she said that if you start training by 8 years old, that is rather late already for you to develop the skills needed to be a pro. So tennis players start at 4 years old and usually retire before they reach 30. There are a few exceptions, of course. There are those who didn’t train since childhood to become pros, like James Blake (who was a Harvard varsity player). There are those, like Andre Agassi, who played until their late 30s. But they are exceptions to the general rule, and only the special ones really become successful like that.

I imagine what it’s like to start “working” so young and then retire so young, with a pocketful of money to spend your entire adult years with. That must be quite awesome. I mean, they earn good money at an age when others are scouring for skin solutions at www.acnesolution.org. Then, they have the rest of their lives to enjoy the fruit of their endeavors. There’s a catch to that lifestyle, of course. Any tennis player would tell you how they don’t have a “normal” life, and that’s true. Theirs is dedicated to the sport alone, and that single-mindedness is their capital and the price they have to pay as well.