Five Storylines To Follow In Men’s Tennis Heading Into 2019

The Next Gen breakthrough

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With 21-year-old Zverev winning the ATP Finals in November, some are tipping him to go one step further in the future and win a grand slam. However, the German world No.4 has a somewhat ordinary record in the majors with only one appearance in a quarter-final (2018 French Open).

“I have improved every year,” Zverev told The West Australian on December 26th. “I’m still quite young, I still have a lot of things to improve.
“I’m No.4 in the world now and I still feel like I have potential.
“The Australian Open is a grand slam and it’s a massive grand slam so obviously we all want to do well here.”

Zverev is the highest ranked player of the Next Generation. A group of players under the age of 21 that are tipped to one day lead the sport when the era of the big four ends. Guided on the tour by his father and Ivan Lendl, he already has 10 ATP titles to his name, including three at Masters 1000 level.

Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas is another player hoping to build on his momentum from 2018. The 20-year-old is the first player from his country to win an ATP title and has scored seven wins over top 10 players since October 2017. He is currently at a ranking high of 15th in the world.

“I really believe that fitness played a big role this year and also mentally I was a different player, more mature more patient and more professional in what I was doing,” Tsitsipas said.
“To make semis or better in a grand slam, win a masters event and finish at the Nitto finals at the end of the year (are my goals for 2019).” He added.

In a sport that has been dominated by a select group of individuals in recent time, cracks are starting to show for others to break through. During a recent interview with CNN, Nadal believes it will be only a matter of time before his younger rivals breakthrough in the big events.

“In my opinion, we have a new generation that is very good. It is just a question of time, that’s my feeling.” Nadal explained.
“It’s just about time that they are going to win grand slams. [Alexander] Zverev, [Dominic] Thiem, [Stefanos] Tsitsipas, [Denis] Shapovalov, [Karen] Khachanov, [Andrey] Rublev, all these guys are good.
“[Nick] Kyrgios, [Alex] De Minaur. All these guys are good, very good. So they are going to be there and they are going to fight for important things for probably the next five, six years.”

At present, there are seven players under the age of 25 in the top 20.

Youngest players in the top 100 (as of 30/12/18)