Djokovic is part animal, part machine. He possesses cat-like reflexes returning 130 mph serves. He’s genetically gifted with an orangutan-like wingspan allowing him to strike balls that would otherwise not be humanly possible. He’s a tireless Labrador retrieving balls for upwards of five hours in some cases, minus the panting tongue. Many observers have remarked of his machine-like consistency rarely making a mistake, like a finely tuned BMW requiring high-octane fuel. And yet Djokovic’s game is greater than the sum of its parts. When the ultra focused Serbian athlete crouches into his low wide stance anticipating a serve bounce in his strike zone, watch his head—it’s motionless, like a cheetah stalking its prey, his gaze piercing, legs like coiled springs, torso, hips and arms working in perfect unison as he stretches with uncanny reach--it’s pure poetry in motion and awe-inspiring in the same manner a buzzer-beating three-pointer, a one-handed endzone catch, a line-drive saving grab or a top-corner around-the-wall goal can be—only better if you’re a crazed tennis fan.
No doubt Djokovic is a rare specimen—a body so well conceived and cared for, that he was unmitigatedly designed by a deity. Michaelangelo could not have fashioned a more immaculately proportioned body for the game of tennis. There are other intangibles of course that distinguish Djokovic from many of his peers; his steely resolve, his fierce passion, his perseverance.
His physical gifts are mostly genetic, likely coming from athletic parents, but undeniably enhanced and nurtured by Djokovic himself, who skis, does yoga, and lots of dynamic stretching to keep his million dollar limbs at their supple elastic best. And yet there’s one fundamental factor so brutally obvious it’s often overlooked, for which Novak Djokovics talents and skills would not bear fruition: his height. Yes, I’ll repeat: his height. If Djokovic were not 6 feet 2 inches tall, he would not be a 10 time Grand Slam winner. Nor would Roger Federer have 17 Slams, were he not 6’1. Rafael Nadal would not be the King of Clay if he were 5’10 or 6’4, but precisely because he’s 6’1. It may seem trivial or coincidental to hinge an athlete’s degree of success on distance measured from head to toe, but if you’ll indulge me a few paragraphs I’ll explain.
There’s a reason Tomas Berdych has never won a Major, just as there’s a reason Marin Cilic and Goran Ivanesivic have only won one. They’re simply too tall. Berdych who’s 6ft, 5 in, Cilic 6’6, and Ivanesivic 6’4 are too tall to excel or dominate in a sport that favours slightly shorter players. Sure, Cilic and Ivanesivic captured lightning in a bottle and once in a while tall men will compensate for their “tall-comings”, but don’t bet on Cilic winning another Slam because his body type and particularly his height are working against him. The taller you are, the harder you fall and subsequently the harder it is to run quickly from baseline corner to corner, hitting tennis balls with power and precision over extended rallies—something the game’s evolution demands to beat the best players. Berdych is a top 10 player and consistently strong over his career—just not strong enough to beat athletically gifted players 6 feet tall or 6’1 or 6’2 or perhaps 6’3. John Isner is 6ft 10 inches tall and always a career top 20 player, but at a larger height disadvantage than Berdych.
Isner’s body is gangly and not coordinated enough to overcome the toughest opponents. His serve is a weapon, but his all-court game too one-dimensional to beat a top 5 player. Berdych is 6’5 and moves well for a bigger man, but not well enough to sustain high levels of play consistently to beat guys like Djokovic or Nadal. His taller frame is more prone to endurance and agility issues, leading to more errors as a match wears on. Berdych can train all he wants but he can’t fight his God-given height; it will always be a deficiency in high stakes tennis. Even if one magically extrapolated Djokovic’s abilities and planted them into Berdych’s body, Djokovic would no longer be the elite multi-Slam winner because his physical style of play, sliding on hard courts, could not support the larger 6’5 frame of a Berdychian body.
In the same way tallness can hinder achieving a high caliber all-court tennis game capable of winning Slams, so does shortness. Look down the list of players since the 1990’s shorter than 5 feet 11 inches (when the average height of athletes had steadily increased) and you’ll find perhaps four of the best vertically challenged players, Michael Chang, Marcelo Rios, David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori having one total Grand Slam between them. What do they have in common besides excellent court coverage, amazing quickness and superb reflexes? They’re all roughly 5’9. And in tennis, that’s almost a death sentence. When you must fight against athletically skilled players who serve bigger with longer arm spans and wider gaits who need half a step less to crush a groundstroke, it’s always an uphill battle. All the credit to Chang, for example, who made four Slam Finals, winning a French Open in 1989, albeit in dramatic fashion against a 6’2 Stefan Edberg in 5 sets. Edberg, on the other hand won 6 Slams and while height doesn’t guarantee Slam titles, it at least facilitates the potential to win them.
In fact without sounding too simplistic, one might deduce that there’s an ideal height to win multiple Slams. Typically, 5’11 to 6’3 has produced the most multi-Slam winners.....that’s 4 inches that helps define greatness. In the past two decades, as the average height of an American male has grown a few inches or so from roughly the previous 30 years, the magical number for a male tennis player to win double digit Slams is either 6’1 or 6’2. Yes, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have all won 10 Majors or more.
Here’s a break-down of some of the most notable multiple Slam winners in men’s tennis since roughly the Open Era began in 1967:
Roger Federer 6'1 17
Rafael Nadal 6'1 14
Pete Sampras 6'1 14
Bjorn Borg 5'11 11
Novak Djokovic 6'2 10
Ivan Lendl 6'2 8
Andre Agassi 5'11 8
Jimmy Connors 5'10 8
Mats Wilander 6'0 7
John McEnroe 5'11 7
Boris Becker 6'3 6
Stefan Edberg 6'2 6
Jim Courier 6'1 4
Gustavo Kuerten 6'3 3
Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6'2 2
Andy Murray 6'3 2
Stan Wawrinka 6'0 2
Lleyton Hewitt 5'11 2
Patrick Rafter 6'2 2
Marat Safin 6'3 2
Perhaps the most successful multi-Slam winner who had the most distinct height disadvantage against his main rivals was Andre Agassi. Agassi was 5’11, and managed to win 8 Slams playing against others who were typically 2, 3 or 4 inches taller than him, such as Sampras, Becker, Edberg and Courier. Agassi, enjoyed many other distinctions such as a Hall of Fame return of serve, impressive comebacks from injury, 20 years on the tour and winning a Slam at age 33. Agassi, more than any other player defies the harsh ATP reality of being shorter. He was able to overcome his shortcomings better than his peers. Luckily for him, he wasn’t 5’9 because two inches shorter would have made his excellent career seem ordinary.
Curiously Becker (6’3) was the tallest of the multiple Slam winners with 6 Slams. Boom-boom Becker maximized his skill set better than most ‘tallish’ players, even though he was only 1 inch taller than rivals Lendl and Edberg (both 6’2) who won 8 and 6 Slams respectively. Becker, was one of the best serve and volleyers of his day, and uncannily agile and athletic for his bigger frame, famously diving to block passing shots on grass, clay and hard courts alike. Becker made the most of faster courts back in the 80s and 90s and didn’t let an inch on his blonde head diminish his talents. He was a rare breed of a bigger player with supreme reach and agility.
Looking at the current “Golden age” of active players who’ve won multiple Slams, it’s remarkable that three of the greatest players of the modern era, Roger Federer (6’1), Rafael Nadal (6’1), and Novak Djokovic (6’2) are separated by only one inch. Yes, roughly 2.5 centimetres is the margin of error for winning bagfuls of championships. It appears that even missing the cut by one inch on either side of the equation, Wawrinka (6’0) and Andy Murray (6’3) will only merit you 2 Slams apiece. Okay, we may be splitting hairs or centimetres here, but the statistics don’t lie. That’s not to say that a 6’3 or 6’4 or 6’5 player won’t win 10 or 15 or 20 Slams one day because tennis like every sport evolves and adapts with changes in diet, nutrition, fitness, but as long as the dimensions of a court are 78 ft long by 27 ft wide, I would wager my bet on future stars not eclipsing the 6’2 or 6’3 mark.
With the current crop of young guns in men’s tennis like Borna Coric (6’1), Dominic Thiem (6’1), Alex Zverev (6’6), Thanasi Kokkinakis (6’5), Coric and Thiem have higher ceilings in terms of fulfilling potential, and not just because of their superior all court game, but because their height allows for this. Kokkinakis can likely aspire to 1 or 2 Slams in his career, and again it’s not a knock against his heart or desire or his skill set, but because the margins of height for winning in tennis are so small. For every Djokovic, Nadal and Federer, there are countless other men on the ATP tour who are 6’1 or 6’2, who likely have supremely fit bodies and above average athletic skills, and yet only a few can become champions of the sport. This is where other X-factors of unique tennis skills and mental preparation come in to play. Let’s return to this topic shortly.
Being roughly 6’0 feet or so in tennis of course doesn’t translate to championship pedigree in other pro sports. The average height in the NBA is 6 feet 7 inches. Three of the greatest players from the past few generations are Michael Jordan (6’6), Kobe Bryant (6’6) and Lebron James (6’8). When the overarching goal of basketball is to outscore your opponent by shooting or slamming the ball into a ten foot hoop, it pays to be taller, and jumping like a lemur can’t hurt either. Being especially tall in of itself isn’t fool proof, as speed, skill, agility and athleticism all play huge a role. However, many team sports like basketball, soccer, hockey, baseball and football are tailored to include specialized skills for certain positions, therefore varied heights as well. Thus John Stockton could play guard at 6’1 and thrive in an environment with men 6 inches taller than him on average because his specialty was passing to bigger players who could finish a scoring play.
In soccer there’s a great variance of talent based on height. Arguably the two best players of today and perhaps the past decade are Cristiano Ronaldo who’s 6’1, and Lionel Messi who’s 5’7. Other top stars include Gareth Bale (6’0), Luis Suarez (5’9), and Neymar (5’9). Perhaps the most gifted tall player in the sport is Zlatan Ibrahimovic (6’5) who defied the odds of a sport that typically favours players with lower centers of gravity. Considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time, Maradona (5’5) and Messi (5’7) have dominated as small robust, quick athletes with superb dribbling skills, speed, and intelligence. Generally speaking, those above 6’0 tall are in the minority; soccer on the whole is a shorter man’s game, preferring athletes who can navigate tight spaces on a pitch and create something out of nothing through sheer vision and changing the pace of a match. Hockey is also a sport with very specialized positions that include elite players of varying body types and heights, but generally many of the sport’s greats hover around the 6’0 plateau.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: A RARE PHYSICAL SPECIMEN
For the current generation of tennis players, Novak Djokovic’s 6’2 frame is ideal for reaching the heights of the game (pun intended). By virtue of playing the two best players of his generation, Federer and Nadal 40 + times each, he’s been pushed to grow, adapt and hone his talents to beat and often outlast his rivals. The stellar Serb prides himself being one of the fittest guys on tour if not the fittest by finding any advantage he can through diet, nutrition, training regimens, coaching and scheduling. His style of play is fast becoming famous for showcasing little to no weakness and a stifling defence that transitions to quick strike offence in a heartbeat. In fact, Djokovic’s game is typically a maddeningly patient one, like a soccer team that gladly allows its opponent more ball possession and offensive zone time, only to steal the ball away at will catching the opponent shorthanded defensively and score on the counter-attack.
And yet for all of Djokovic’s strategic shot-making, pulling his foe further and further out of position, his exceptional defense would not be possible were it not for his yogic flexibility, stretching beyond injury-inducing limits for most. Indeed, Djokovic’s X-factor that makes him that much better than his peers is his balance and flexibility. His bullet reflexes, his consistent backhand, his shots that land often times at his adversary’s feet when returning serve flow from supreme balance and flexibility. Where does he get it? Maybe it’s pure genes, a diet that keeps his joints well-oiled, or all the yoga and skiing he did growing up. And yet it’s more than just balance and flexibility—it’s the result or effect of these two fundamental qualities: namely Djokovic’s invisible harness that pulls him back like a yoyo to the center of the baseline in time to hit the next shot. No player recovers better than the Serb after being in defensively compromising positions. He’s like a planet orbiting the center of the court, gravity pulling him back and back again. It’s a wonder he doesn’t have chronic ankle issues from all the intensive sliding. Should Djokovic thank his lucky stars or congratulate himself for preventing injury through discipline and hard work? Maybe a bit of both.
BLACK TENNIS PLAYERS: THE GREAT UNKNOWN?
Up to this point, I’ve argued that to be great in tennis you can’t be too tall or too short. But the truth is there are very few players of African heritage who play pro tennis and that leaves a noticeable gap in the potential talent pool of athletes out there who could one day rise the ranks of tennis iconography. Certainly black athletes can play tennis but there aren’t enough of them to push the envelope. Perhaps the two most popular and successful of today’s game are Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. Both have had some moderate success, but neither has won a Slam. Arthur Ashe likely inspired many fellow African Americans to try their hand at tennis, but he retired in 1980 and the US sports landscape is complicated: firstly most black youth choose cheaper and more popular sports like basketball, football and baseball, while tennis has usually been seen more as a sport of elitism and entitlement.
But look no further than Serena and Venus Williams to overturn stereotypes and assumptions of a dominantly white woman’s sport. Serena is arguably the best woman tennis player of all time, and her popularity has spurred other women to follow suit like Madison Keys and Sloane Stephens. Golf, much like tennis has been a game enjoyed by the predominantly affluent white, and who has defined modern golf and succeeded more than anyone of his time: Tiger Woods. Serena (5’9) and Tiger (6’1) were not tall athletes but they were dominant in their sports, which begs the question: could there be a Tiger Woods (6’1) or a Michael Jordan (6’6) or Lebron James (6’8) of tennis lurking out there on the streets of Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney, Chicago or Rome, if nurtured in the right environment? Hockey, until recent years, has always attracted a culture of Caucasians, and some people no doubt wondered whether blacks could skate, let alone play hockey, but only two years ago, did a black Canadian named P.K. Subban win the Norris trophy for best defenseman in the league. Of course, you can only judge the legends of any sport by the feats they accomplish, not by those who never played the game in the first place. Yet tennis would benefit from greater diversity, and perhaps that’s why the men’s game is being promoted more in Asia, because very few players have cracked the top 100 in the ATP from the two largest countries: China and India and beyond. And who knows? Maybe we’ll one day have two-digit tennis Slam winners that defy the history of height: a 5’9 superstar and a 6’6 legend and both from Africa and Asia. It would be quite something wouldn’t it?