Young Top 10 Stars Emerge During 2008 Season

While Rafael Nadal finished as ATP World Tour Champion for the first time in 2008, four other players made their debut in the Top 10 South African Airways ATP Rankings.

The Top 10 average age was 23.8 years old in 2008, the youngest since 1993 when the Top 10 average was 23.1.

The youngest new addition was 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro (pictured) who broke through this summer to win four consecutive ATP titles. Other newcomers were 21-year-old Andy Murray at No. 4 and 23-year-old Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at No. 6 and Gilles Simon at No. 7.

Six of the Top 10 were 23-and-under, including three of the Top 4 players. Rafael Nadal, 22, was the youngest year-end No. 1 since Andy Roddick (21) in 2003. Novak Djokovic, 21, finished No. 3 for the second straight year.

The oldest player in the Top 10 is James Blake, who turns 29 on Dec. 28, followed by Nikolay Davydenko (27), Roger Federer (27) and Andy Roddick (26).

Federer was asked last month during the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai about the emerging young stars in the Top 10 and looking ahead to the 2009 season.

“A lot of young guys are doing well and it’s exciting for tennis at the moment, said Federer. “I’m excited to see how they’ll handle next year under the pressure, because they’ve had a good year now. But, yeah, things are looking good for next year for everybody.”

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