OUR SAY: The tennis court's age of reason

'The tennis court has become a truly unique arena where the wisdom of experience trumps the exuberance of youth - every time'

NEW ERA: Is it time for a new era of tennis? Picture: Kyodo

HOW long can the grand trio maintain its stranglehold of world tennis? I'm tipping the new era of tennis to finally dawn at the US Open next week.

Between them, Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (18) and Novak Djokovic (16) have won 54 grand slam titles. They sit first, second and third in the list of all-time winners.

The tennis court has become a truly unique arena where the wisdom of experience trumps the exuberance of youth - every time.

Since 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic turned 30 on September 28 last year, there is no man alive under the age of 30 who can claim to be a grand slam singles champion.

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It's an unprecedented statistic and quite remarkable for such an athletic sport that relies so heavily on agility, endurance, power and speed.

Fair enough if tennis was a dying sport and competition was waning but its global attention has never been greater and the prizemoney keeps sky-rocketing, so there's plenty of incentive for the athletic elite to pursue the sport.

It's hard to believe when eight years ago a fresh 18-year-old Bernard Tomic seemed destined for greatness, closely followed by fellow Aussie underachiever Nick Kyrgois.

But attitudes can't be entirely to blame. Current top 10 players Dominic Thiem, Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have been ticking all the boxes - all but one, that is.

Originally published as OUR SAY: The tennis court's age of reason