#nextgen Canada or USA or ???

[Carlg]

Well it's been slow since the USOpen so while I wait for the 250s this week to get going I thought I would start a thread!

Right now there are exciting up and coming athletes coming from the US and Canada in Fritz and Tiafoe and Shapovalov and Auger Aliassime. My question is which pair do you think will end up having the better careers? Also, are there any other countries that have 2 or more up and coming players I can add to the watch list?

 

[El Dude]

I know it goes without saying but it is just too soon to say. Plus there is a the age gap. Here are their birth years and current ranking:

Fritz (Oct 28, 1997): #58
Tiafoe (Jan 20, 1998): #122
Shapovalov (April 15, 1999): #247
Aliassime (Aug 8, 2000): #730

I hope someone with more knowledge of their game can comment, but one way to compare players is to look at where they were ranked at the same age. Fritz is just three months older than Tiafoe, so his equivalent age would be June when he was ranked in the 60s, so he's a bit ahead of Tiafoe. Or we could look at that conversely and say that Tiafoe is right now where Fritz was in February when he was about to jump into the top 100, so between Feb and June is four months so Tiafoe is at least four months behind Fritz developmentally, possibly more.

Shapovalov is on a very nice trajectory, ranked where Fritz was back in October of last year, around the time he turned 18. So Shapo is a half a year ahead or more of where Fritz was at, but it remains to be seen if he'll continue rising or he gets stuck in Challengers limbo.

With Aliassime, who knows. If his health holds then I think he could be the most promising of the lot. He's shown quite a bit for a 15-16 year old. He could be very, very good by the time he's 18 or 19.

 

[El Dude]

But to answer your actual question, I think the Canadians look more promising so far and have higher upside, but that could change quickly.

 

[Riotbeard]

I voted American for the heck of it, but I agree with the Dude. Too little info. at this point to make a real guess.

 

[herios]

I voted for the Canadians for patriotic reasons
But there is not enough visibility at this point in time for any of the four.
All of them need improvement, and that will happen, hopefully, but buy how much it will be, that is the big question.

 

[Fiero425]

I voted for the Canadians for patriotic reasons
But there is not enough visibility at this point in time for any of the four.
All of them need improvement, and that will happen, hopefully, but buy how much it will be, that is the big question.

Decisions, decisions; duel citizenship with both! :angel: :dodgy: