John McEnroe believes it will be a hard task ending the dominance of the Big Four at the Wimbledon Championships, but believes one member of the Next Generation has the best chance of doing so.
The former world No.1 praised Stefanos Tsitsipas during an ESPN media press conference that took place earlier in the week. The Greek 20-year-old is currently ranked sixth in the world and has three ATP titles to his name. He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, where he defeated Roger Federer, followed by the fourth round at the French Open.
“Tsitsipas, I think he seems ready to make a breakthrough. To me he’d almost be the most likely guy that would do it if it wasn’t one of those guys.” McEnroe responded when asked if a member outside of the Big Four can win Wimbledon.
“Tsitsipas I think is going to be a great champion and player. He’s got everything that you could hope for.” He added.
The Next Gen player has endured a mixed start to his grass-court campaign this year. Losing in the first round at s-Hertogenbosch before reaching the quarter-finals at Queen’s a week later. So far in his career, Tsitsipas has only played five ATP tournaments on the surface.
Already scoring wins over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic before his 21st birthday, Tsitsipas remains an outsider to win the upcoming grand slam. The title has been won by a member of the Big four over the past 16 years. Furthermore, either Nadal, Federer or Djokovic has won the past 10 grand slam tournaments.
“I have a lot of respect for those guys, obviously. I know to some degree what it takes to do what they’re doing, and it’s been absolutely amazing.” McEnroe explained. “But I am definitely one of those guys that’s like, okay, it’s time to see these next generation of people.”
Another rising star that has caught the attention of the former world No.1 is Felix Auger-Alissame. Somebody Tsitsipas has described as the toughest player he has ever played. The Canadian 18-year-old is the youngest player to break into the world’s top 25 on the ATP Tour since Lleyton Hewitt back in 1999. He has already featured in three tour finals this season and has achieved a career ranking high 11 times in 2019.
“I think that this Canadian, Aliassime, is going to be — to me he’s going to be a No. 1.” The American predicts.
“He’s got everything it takes, so now it still seems like he’s learning on grass, how to best handle that for himself because he lost to Lopez in the semis (at Queen’s), but there’s a lot of unbelievable signs.”
There are currently four player’s in the top 30 under the age of 21.
