Oldest Grand Slam Winners: Tennis, Golf & Age
What Tom Watson accomplished Sunday in the British Open is beyond belief — at 59, with an artificial hip, he almost won a major, the third leg of golf’s Grand Slam. It says he’s tough, tenacious and a great competitor. It also says a lot about the difference in athletic ability required of the game of golf, versus tennis, a sport.
Watson fell just short of surpassing Julius Boros, who won the 1968 Masters at the age of 48, and Jack Nicklaus, who won the 1986 Masters at the age of 46. (Nicklaus, now 70, suprisingly, spent Saturday playing tennis in Florida). There have been three other winners of golf majors above 43 since 1967.
In contrast, the oldest man to win a Grand Slam singles title in tennis is eighteen years younger than Watson, and that record dates all way back to the 1909 Wimbledon won by Arthur Gore at the age of 41. In the modern tennis era beginning in 1968, feats of age drop into the thirties: Andres Gimeno won the French Open at 34 in 1974, and Andre Agassi won the 2003 Australian Open at the age of 32. Jimmy Connors, at 39, reached the semifinals of the 1991 U.S. Open, and the oldest to go that far before him was Ken Rosewall seventeen years earlier (whom a young Connors drilled in the final).
Gore’s record is 100 years old and will stand forever. Never again will you see a male tennis player in his forties compete for a major (I’m not going to rule out the Williams sisters doing it on the women’s side in a dozen years or so), and certainly not past champions nearing sixty. Footspeed, strength, eyesight and speed matter too much when the ball is moving instead of sitting on a tee.
Maybe Nicklaus wanted to get some exercise.
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Jul 24th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Good analysis and timely, but go easy on Jack…he has a new hip too!
Jun 30th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Golf requires a lot more skill than tennis, BTW.
Go, hit a few balls, let’s see where they end up.
Sep 11th, 2010 at 4:33 am
Golf–so easy, 100-year-olds have hit holes in one.
End of story.
Dec 31st, 2010 at 5:31 pm
FU, that’s idiotic. Tennis not only requires incredible skill but absurd athleticism at that level. You can be a fat, drunk, sloth of a cow and still win at golf.
May 30th, 2011 at 8:11 pm
Golf requires more skill like chess requires more skill. Tennis requires athleticism and is therefore a sport as golf is a game like checkers, chess or poker.
Jul 6th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
‘Gore’s record is 100 years old and will stand forever’
I disagree. Improved bio technology will see athletes bodys last longer. Might take a few decades tho!
Jan 20th, 2012 at 2:14 am
I am terribly sorry to inform you all of this. Tennis is the harder of the two sports. I am experienced and aged in each. Hands down tennis takes far more skill and more intensive training. Stroke awareness are equall in each sport… Yet you need three strokes for tennis serve, backhand,forehand… Not to mention net game chops etc… O yeah and we arent standing in one always easy position… Weather has effects on both so equall there… Training… Well if you reach a high lvl… It is obvious that tennis is the more extensive and athletic and skilled of the two sports… I am sorry. I am a fan of both… But to set the record straight i felt compelled to have the truth out there.