PARIS: Once littered with a generation of teenage Grand Slam champions, the balance atop the tennis pyramid has since shifted markedly in favour of the sport's more experienced pros with a record 51 men aged 30 or over in the 2016 French Open main draw.
That figure, just a shade under 40 percent of the 128-man field, easily eclipses the previous high of 41 from this year's Australian Open and could have been higher if not for the withdrawal of 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer.
But while the likes of Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras all claimed their first major titles before turning 20, Rafael Nadal remains the only teenaged champion in the past 25 years.
The Spaniard, who himself turns 30 on June 3, downed Federer in four sets to win the 2005 French Open on his tournament debut — the beginning of Nadal's remarkable clay-court reign.