When Juan Martin del Potro out-slugged Roger Federer in the fifth set of the 2009 US Open championship to win the title, many commented afterwards that del Potro represented the future of the sport—his 6-foot-6 height and brutal power from the backcourt, some mused, would be the new norm in tennis. But while there's no question that the average top player is taller than they were at the start of the Open era, del Potro is still an outlier and there remains a sweet spot of sorts for the ideal height for Open champions.
Arthur Ashe was the winner of the inaugural US Open in 1968. His 6-foot-1 height was actually quite tall for that period. Consider that the winners of the next two Opens, in 1969 and 1970, were Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, respectively. Laver, who stood at 5-foot 8 inches was slightly taller than the 5-foot-7 Rosewall. 1971 saw one of the tallest US Open champions up to that point, Stan Smith. His 6-foot-4 stature was decidedly way above the norm for that time.
Following Smith's victory, from 1972 through 1984, all the men's winners at the Open were generally around the same height, between 5-foot-10 and six feet tall. The two most prolific champions in this period were Jimmy Connors, at 5-foot 10 inches and John McEnroe, 5-foot 11 inches.
It was following McEnroe's fourth US Open win, in 1984—which was also his last Slam title—that a new paradigm began to set in. Ivan Lendl, who had finally broken through to win his first major at the 1984 French Open, went on to win three consecutive US Opens, from 1985 through 1987.
Lendl is the true bridge between the wood-racquet era and the modern game—and, as it turned out, he ushered in a new age of taller men's champions. Lendl revolutionized the sport with his powerful baseline play. Never before had someone been able to routinely hit winners from so deep in the court, something that is now a given with today's top stars. And Lendl was 6-foot-2. After Lendl, with only a couple of exceptions most US Open champions have been between 6 feet tall and 6 feet 2 inches.
The only players under six feet to have won the Open since 1984 are Andre Agassi, winner of the 1994 and 1999 Opens, and Lleyton Hewitt, who won in 2001. So it has now been 18 years since a player under six feet tall has won. And it doesn't seem like that trend will change.
The target height now seems to be around 6 feet 1 inch to 6 feet 2 inches. Consider that the Big Three of Roger Federer (6-foot-1), Rafael Nadal (6-foot-1) and Novak Djokovic (6-foot-2) all fall into this category—as did Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick. Del Potro and Marin Cilic (6-foot-6), winner of the US Open in 2014, are by far the two tallest players to ever win the Open. But they are still the exceptions.
Of course, one doesn't have to be a tall player to succeed on the men's tour. On Labor Day, the diminutive 5-foot-7 Diego Schwartzman upset the No. 6 seed Alexander Zverev, who is 6 feet 6 inches, to advance to the US Open quarterfinals for the second time in his career. There is still room for all sizes on the men's tour.
