Young Guns Discussion

[El Dude]

Alexander Zverev and Lucas Pouille both won their first titles today, doubling their generation's (b. 1994-98) total title count from 2 to 4 (Nick Kyrgios has two).

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Will you look at those young guys, Pouille, Zverev, Thiem in the final. Bravo, there may be hope over the horizon after all.

 

[isabelle]

glad to see some new faces, tennis needs them

 

[herios]

Although Khachanov is #92 in the Race rankings, so he still should be able to finish the year in the top 100. Donaldson's at #93 in the Race rankings. Tiafoe's really close at 113.

After this week, there is no doubt that Khachanov will be a good player, so his top 100 position will be assured and some.
I cannot say too many positives about Donaldson and Tiafoe though. After the USO they were disappointing, scoring loses to much lower ranked players.
Simply, I do not trust these two Americans. They are very inconsistent.

 

[El Dude]

Fritz is more promising than Tiafoe or Donaldson, although he seems to be treading water since his charge into the top 100 earlier this year.

With Khachanov's title, three of the last four ATP 250s have been won by players age 22 and younger.

 

[delPoFearhand]

Tiafoe has reached ranking #100 on the nose as of October 10 at 18 years, 8 months. He'll drop back down slightly outside on Monday as he's dropping 29 points from last year's Fairfield challenger where he just lost in the R16 (8 points), so he'll be net losing 21 points.

He's also defending a Knoxville Challenger F appearance (48 points) in November, but assuming he can match or exceed that ~69 points he should end the year top 100.

 

[herios]

Tiafoe has reached ranking #100 on the nose as of October 10 at 18 years, 8 months. He'll drop back down slightly outside on Monday as he's dropping 29 points from last year's Fairfield challenger where he just lost in the R16 (8 points), so he'll be net losing 21 points.

He's also defending a Knoxville Challenger F appearance (48 points) in November, but assuming he can match or exceed that ~69 points he should end the year top 100.

Fritz also lost many points in the last two weeks, because last year in October these events in Sacramento and Fairfield were the his first two challenger titles wins for him. He compensated with a few points in Shanghai, getting into the R2.
But Fritz will still remain ranked well inside the top 100 by year end.
Donaldson dropped out of the top 100 and I personally doubt he will make the top 100 comes year end.

 

[El Dude]

18-year old Mikael Ymer, Elias' younger brother, just beat Fernando Verdasco resoundingly, 6-2, 6-1. He's a kid I've had on my radar for awhile but hasn't moved at all this year. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

 

[delPoFearhand]

18-year old Mikael Ymer, Elias' younger brother, just beat Fernando Verdasco resoundingly, 6-2, 6-1. He's a kid I've had on my radar for awhile but hasn't moved at all this year. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

He's only been back since August, dealing with a hip injury for 9 months. His current ranking is mostly driven by a good showing at the Rome Challenger, reaching the SF. Definitely intriguing, we'll see what the future holds- hopefully he can break into the top 100 faster than his brother, who has yet to do so at 20.

 

[herios]

18-year old Mikael Ymer, Elias' younger brother, just beat Fernando Verdasco resoundingly, 6-2, 6-1. He's a kid I've had on my radar for awhile but hasn't moved at all this year. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

He's only been back since August, dealing with a hip injury for 9 months. His current ranking is mostly driven by a good showing at the Rome Challenger, reaching the SF. Definitely intriguing, we'll see what the future holds- hopefully he can break into the top 100 faster than his brother, who has yet to do so at 20.

Elias Ymer will not be a top player, that is almost sure.

 

[El Dude]

That's good to hear, that Mikael has been injured, which is why he hasn't progressed. I read somewhere that he's considerably more talented than his brother. He's a player to watch next year - I could see him "doing a Fritz."

 

[mrzz]

I have noticed this kid Stefanos Tsitsipas a while ago, and now he is at round #2 at the Basel qualies. Let's see.

 

[El Dude]

I believe Tsitsipas was the #1 junior for awhile.

 

[mrzz]

He lost to Haase in round #2 of the qualies, but Haase is the #1 seed, and the score was 7x6 6x4, so I guess he's doing fine.

 

[herios]

I believe Tsitsipas was the #1 junior for awhile.

And still he is. Although he is not the highest ranked among those who were born 1996 overall, the others in front of him like Coroc, Khachanov, etc are not ranked as juniors because they played the main tour.
Tsitsipas has underperformed though in the junior slams, because he never reached any of the slam finals, being ranked as the top player.

 

[El Dude]

Yay, I finally get to correct herios!

Tsitsipas was born in 1998, along with Tiafoe, Kozlov, Lee, Ruud, Mmoh, and M Ymer.

1998 Births by Ranking
102 Tiafoe
152 Lee
155 Kozlov
207 Tsitsipas
241 Ruud
287 Mmoh

 

[herios]

Yay, I finally get to correct herios!

Tsitsipas was born in 1998, along with Tiafoe, Kozlov, Lee, Ruud, Mmoh, and M Ymer.

Yes, you got me there. An oopsie moment from me, made Tsitispas 2 years older.

Kozlov made a challenger final this week, allowing him to get into the top 150, but he was destroyed in the final by Lu with a 6-0, 6-1 score.

 

[herios]

An update on the teenagers.
We are now down to 2 teenagers in the top 100, Zverev and Fritz, as Coric turned 20.
And Tiafoe did not make it there in the end, having some underwhelming results on the challenger Tour in the last few weeks, currently ranked 108, after briefly reaching 100 spot for a week.

 

[El Dude]

It may be that 20 is the new 19...or something like that. But there are a bunch of players turning 19 or 20 next year that have a solid chance of the top 100 by year's end. Here is a list of players under 20 right now and their current ranking, which for most won't change for year's end (there are still a couple challengers):

108 Tiafoe (19 in Jan)
144 Lee (19 in May)
146 Kozlov (19 in Feb)
157 Rublev (20 in Nov)
204 Mmoh (19 in Jan)
205 Tsitsipas (19 in Aug)
208 Opelka (20 in Aug)
226 Ruud (19 in Dec)
241 Shapovalov (18 in Aug)

 

[herios]

It may be that 20 is the new 19...or something like that. But there are a bunch of players turning 19 or 20 next year that have a solid chance of the top 100 by year's end. Here is a list of players under 20 right now and their current ranking, which for most won't change for year's end (there are still a couple challengers):

108 Tiafoe (19 in Jan)
144 Lee (19 in May)
146 Kozlov (19 in Feb)
157 Rublev (20 in Nov)
204 Mmoh (19 in Jan)
205 Tsitsipas (19 in Aug)
208 Opelka (20 in Aug)
226 Ruud (19 in Dec)
241 Shapovalov (18 in Aug)

And how many of these will actually make the top 100 in a year, or will follow Elias Ymer path (regression).
I know I sound pessimistic, but none of these players impressed me much with their achievements on the challenger tour.