[tmn]

A possible factor on your observation is females athletically peaking earlier.

Edit. A quick investigation shows there is not a significant age difference between men and women for both top 10 player lists and top 100 player lists

[bigstrat2003]

Or just that younger women are hotter so they attract more of an audience.

[tmn]

Lol. I didn’t realize how important audience following was to winning tennis matches.

[ericmay]

Pretty important! More fans mean more sponsorship dollars, which mean better coaches, food, &c, which means better conditioning and training for the match, and thus a higher chance of winning and getting more fans and more sponsorship cycles.

I actually think it’s great. The level playing field can get a bit overrated. Hungary entrepreneurs will intuitively understand the parallels.

[anthonyIPH]

That was my first thought, but then again, players with a large fan base are more likely to get a wildcard into an event they don't directly qualify for.

[potato3732842]

Or players with that potential are likely to get resources investment earlier in the pipeline making them more able to perform well on non-subjective criteria

[p1esk]

Actually audience support during tight matches can be decisive.