Kei Nishikori: #9 player in the world

[herios]

No they won't.

Which players do you think will be grabbing slams when they'll be 26-30 among the current generation?

Why are you so sure they will not? Dimitrov and Raonic are improving and yes, I think both will be able to sin slams in a few years.
Nishikori I have doubts because of the injuries, but those could be also looked into and perhaps fixed.
I know you focus on the holes in their games, but they are working on them and you don't know right much they could still improve in the next few years.

Raonic is way too limited to win slams. Dimitrov is a possibility. But that's literally one player who seems good enough. I am not sure that they won't, but I'm pretty confident. There really doesn't seem to be any indication that they're improving significantly, especially with many of them not being THAT young anymore.

"way too limited" I am not sure about that. He has improved this year significantly. Looks at his results. He has made this year 4 times QF in masters (one of them now SF) in 4 out of 5.
That translates clearly in top 8 player, as far as I am concerned. As far as their age, we see what happens right now in men's tennis. When you consider the lack of young players overall, they could be still called young. You need only the fingers on one hand to count how many are younger than Dimitrov in the top 100.

Again, re: Milos, I mean way too limited as far as the required standard to win majors, not be a top 10 player. When was the last time a guy with a similar game and skill set threatened to win a major? Obviously it wouldn't be the most shocking thing in the world, and yes, he is improving and will improve further, but right now, I don't see the necessary quality.

Broken, fair enough, I agree that at this moment he still needs to work on several aspects of his game (ROS, BH, movement, especially).
But many improvements have been made since he teamed up with Ljubicic & Piatii, his groundstrokes are much more stable, BH is improved, how many more times he moves forward in a match, successfully ending his points).
And I am not sure if you heard Koenig, responding to the question if he sees Raonic a future slam champion, he said definitely yes, in 2-3 years.
As murat mentioned before, I also see him with best chances at Wimbledon in the future, to steal one like Krajicek did.

 

[Kieran]

For the sake of consistency, this I must also agree with, but I don't see Milos as a champ. I think of him as a guy who gets close because of his serve, but he lacks too many other intangibles to be a champ. You could blast your way through Wimbledon before, but now it's slowed down, Milos will also need to cope with rallies, and all that bending gets hard for the bigger fellers.....

 

[TsarMatt]

For the sake of consistency, this I must also agree with, but I don't see Milos as a champ. I think of him as a guy who gets close because of his serve, but he lacks too many other intangibles to be a champ. You could blast your way through Wimbledon before, but now it's slowed down, Milos will also need to cope with rallies, and all that bending gets hard for the bigger fellers.....

I agree with you, but I look at the way Milos played against Nole at Rome, and if he can replicate that type of tennis more often, then he's got a bright couple of years. Hell, put the serve away, and he was still standing toe-to-toe against Djokovic in the baseline rallies. I think even Nole said it was his the best he has ever seen him play, and I agree with that.

But then again, everyone has a good day like that at the office. The question is whether he can replicate that type of tennis consistently, and at the moment, probably not. These up-and-comers just don't have the same type of rigid consistency as the top guys. Hopefully that'll change over time.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

TM, I think it is one off.

 

[Kieran]

TM, I think it is one off.

I agree with this, actually. If he has a great run in Paris, follows with an appearance in the second week at Wimbledon, and does well on the US hards, we can say he's found some spite and consistency, but I actually doubt he has. He won't vanish, but he won't be on the tip of our tongues, either...

 

[TsarMatt]

I hope you guys are wrong, but I have a feeling you are right.