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 Make way for the young guns! That's the message that screams from the year-end Top 20 ATP Rankings.
The average age of players in the Top 20 is 23.6 years (see chart below), the youngest average in the history of the ATP tournament circuit (since 1990). It is the first time since 1994 that the average has been below 24 years.
There are six players aged 21 or younger in the Top 20: Novak Djokovic (19) (pictured), Andy Murray (19), World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (20), Richard Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis (21) and Tomas Berdych (21). The oldest player in the Top 20 is 28-year-old German Tommy Haas.
The average age of members of the year-end Top 10 dropped to 24.3 years in 2006 - the youngest since 1995.
The charts below show the age breakdown of the current Top 20 and a historical comparison of the average age of the year-end Top 10 and Top 20.
| 2006 Year-end ATP Rankings Top 20 |
| Ranking |
Player |
Age |
| 1 |
Roger Federer |
25 |
| 2 |
Rafael Nadal |
20 |
| 3 |
Nikolay Davydenko |
25 |
| 4 |
James Blake |
26 |
| 5 |
Ivan Ljubicic |
27 |
| 6 |
Andy Roddick |
24 |
| 7 |
Tommy Robredo |
24 |
| 8 |
David Nalbandian |
24 |
| 9 |
Mario Ancic |
22 |
| 10 |
Fernando Gonzalez |
26 |
| 11 |
Tommy Haas |
28 |
| 12 |
Marcos Baghdatis |
21 |
| 13 |
Tomas Berdych |
21 |
| 14 |
David Ferrer |
24 |
| 15 |
Jarkko Nieminen |
25 |
| 16 |
Novak Djokovic |
19 |
| 17 |
Andy Murray |
19 |
| 18 |
Richard Gasquet |
20 |
| 19 |
Radek Stepanek |
27 |
| 20 |
Lleyton Hewitt |
25 |
|
| Year-End Average Age |
| Year |
Top 10 |
Top 20 |
| 1990 |
24.2 |
24.3 |
| 1991 |
24 |
24.1 |
| 1992 |
23.3 |
24 |
| 1993 |
23.1 |
24.3 |
| 1994 |
24 |
23.7 |
| 1995 |
24.2 |
24.7 |
| 1996 |
25.1 |
25.2 |
| 1997 |
24.5 |
24.3 |
| 1998 |
24.7 |
25.3 |
| 1999 |
25.4 |
25.1 |
| 2000 |
25 |
24.8 |
| 2001 |
25.5 |
24.9 |
| 2002 |
24.6 |
24.8 |
| 2003 |
24.7 |
25.3 |
| 2004 |
25.3 |
25.4 |
| 2005 |
24.7 |
24.7 |
| 2006 |
24.3 |
23.6 |
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