Men's Tennis: 5 youngest Grand Slam singles champions

In the modern Era, players tend to peak late and have long tennis careers. This is exemplified by the fact that no man born in the 1990s has yet won a Grand Slam title. In fact, the youngest among all Grand Slam champions in the ATP circuit today is Croat Marin Cilic who is 30 years old.

Longevity can be attributed to a variety of reasons - the most important being increased awareness of training methods, nutrition and tournament scheduling. A case in point is Roger Federer winning the 2018 Australian Open at the age of 36 and Rafael Nadal finishing 2017 as the Number 1 ranked player aged 31.

Players like Kevin Anderson, John Isner, Stanislas Wawrinka have all played their best tennis post 30 and the trend looks to continue with 7 out of the Top-10 players in the ATP rankings aged 30 or over.

The last teenager to win a Grand Slam title in the Men's draw was Rafael Nadal way back in 2005. In the serve and volley era, many players achieved stupendous success as teenagers, winning multiple Grand Slam titles. We take a look at the 5 youngest ever Men's Grand Slam champions:

#5 Rafael Nadal

Spaniard Rafael Nadal is the only active player in the list. Nadal took the tennis world by storm in 2005 when he gave a stiff fight to Aussie Lleyton Hewitt at the 4th round of the Australian Open.

At the 2005 Miami Masters, he pushed top-ranked Roger Federer all the way to 5 sets and was two points away from winning but eventually lost. His sheer brilliance on clay was seen that year when he won the Barcelona Open and beat 2004 French Open runner-up Guillermo Coria at the Monte Carlo Masters winning his first Masters title aged just 18.

He followed this up with another victory over Coria at the final of the Rome Masters the same year making him the dark horse at Roland Garros. Later he beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Mariano Puerta in the finals to claim the 2005 French Open title at the age of 19 years and 3 days.

Nadal started the year 49 in the ATP rankings and finished the year as the World Number 2. There has been no looking back as the Spaniard has gone from strength to strength and continues to shatter records even in his 30s

#4 Bjorn Borg

Swede Bjorn Borg with his calm demeanor and grace captivated the tennis world in the 1970s and 1980s. His matches with fellow tennis legend John McEnroe were a delightful display of polar opposites laced with heavy entertainment.

The first player in the Open Era to earn more than one million dollars in prize money in a single season, Borg rose to stardom whilst still a teenager. In a sparkling career, Borg won 6 French Open titles and 5 consecutive Wimbledon Championships - a record he shares with Roger Federer.

Borg's Grand Slam win percentage of 89.81% is the highest in the Sport's history and his 5-set record in Grand Slams is also second to none at 24-3. Borg won the 1974 French Open at the age of just 18 years and 10 days.

#3 Mats Wilander

Mats Wilander of Sweden won 7 Grand Slam titles between 1982 and 1988 and yet remarkably he was never ranked World Number 1 during this dominant phase. He rose to the top ranking only after winning his final Grand Slam in New York in 1988.

He played a key role in Sweden's dominant run in the Davis Cup throughout the 1980s helping his country win 3 Davis Cup titles in 1984, 1985 and 1987. Wilander retired with 33 Singles titles and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2002.

Wilander won his first Grand Slam title at the 1982 French Open aged 17 years and 293 days.

#2 Boris Becker

German Boris Becker nicknamed 'Boom Boom Becker' for his lightning-quick serves was a prodigious talent who dazzled on the tennis courts at a very young age. Along with fellow German superstar Steffi Graf, Becker is credited with popularizing the sport of tennis in Germany.

His athleticism at the net coupled with superior volleying skills enthralled audiences in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1985, he became the first unseeded player at the time to win Wimbledon - a record that was matched in 2001 by Goran Ivanisevic.

Becker won 6 Grand Slam titles as well as the Davis Cup and Hopman Cup as part of Germany's National Team. Becker won the 1985 Wimbledon Championships beating American Kevin Curren at the age of 17 years and 228 days. He would defend his title the next year and become the only man in history to win 2 Wimbledon titles before turning 20.

His second Wimbledon title came in 1986 when he was 18 years, 7 months and 1 day old. Becker is also an accomplished poker player and also had a successful stint as Novak Djokovic's coach.

#1 Michael Chang

Michael Chang of USA caught the tennis world's attention as a junior level player who set several 'youngest ever' records. He remains the youngest ever player to win a US Open match at the age of 15. Standing at 5'9", Chang's serve was a big weakness of his against the taller players but he managed to offset his service speed with his quick reflexes, retrieving skills and defensive grind.

Chang won 34 Singles titles in his tennis career and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2008, 5 years after his retirement from the sport in 2003. Chang won his first and only Grand Slam title at the 1989 French Open beating Stefan Edberg in a 5-set contest.

He was only 17 years, 3 months and 7 days old at the time making him the youngest Men's Grand Slam winner in the history of tennis. Chang is presently the coach of Japan's Kei Nishikori.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram