By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, May 15, 2018
Men's tennis is going through a growth spurt.
Tall titans are casting successful shadows across all surfaces.
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Five of the world's Top 10 players—Alexander Zverev, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Kevin Anderson and John Isner—stand 6-foot-6 or taller.
Big men are making massive impact on Masters events, too.
Three of the first four Masters 1000 events of the season were won by towering talents with del Potro defeating Roger Federer to win Indian Wells, Isner conquering Zverev in the Miami final and Zverev capturing his third career Masters crown in Madrid.
The third-ranked Zverev joined Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray as just the fifth active player with three or more Masters crowns. And he did it without dropping serve in a masterful Madrid performance.
While height helps tennis' top skyscrapers dot obscure areas of the service box shorter players can't reach, the key to their success starts at their feet.
Australian Open finalist Cilic attributes the rise of the big men to their increased mobility and all-court acumen.
"I think, overall, as you know, the height in tennis increased over the years," Cilic told the media in Rome. "The guys that are bigger, stronger, they also tend to move better. I think, also, the game, they are more all-around players.
"You know, maybe when you look back 15, 20 years ago, maybe the taller guys would have a serve and one more shot that would back it up. But today, you can have, you know, players like del Potro, even like Anderson or even like Isner, that are, you know, as tall as them and means obviously can move still well and hit all different shots on good level."
Where will the growth gain take the game in the future?
While Cilic doesn't expect tennis growing too much taller, he does envision a future where the the tall titans play even bigger taking the ball on the rise and stepping into the court.
"There aren't that many guys that are taller than two meters. So, I guess most of them would go to basketball," Cilic said. "But, I think, in my own sense, the tennis where it could involve is, you know, guys that are above 190, moving as good as the guys that are tall, around 180, 185. And still quite powerful...
"And I think in the future, you know, even the guys that are stepping inside the court a bit more and playing aggressive tennis but still able to, you know, match you with big serves, big forehands, big backhands, I think that's going to be the new step in tennis.
"So that's, I think, a big improvement for the game, as well."