In 2019 it is evident that the top level of men’s tennis is dominated by the veterans of the tour. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have shared the Wimbledon trophy between them over the past 16 years. Meanwhile, Dominic Thiem is the only active player under the age of 30 to have won a set in the final of a major. But what about the rising stars of the game?
The Next Generation contingent has been highly publicised by the ATP in recent years. A group of players aged 21 or under who has been dubbed as the future stars of the sport. In 2017 the Next Gen finals were created as a platform to showcase their potential. An end of year tournament that uses innovative rules such as electronic line-calling and best-of-four sets.
Whilst group has shown promise on the tour, breaking through in grand slams remains a rarity. Something which has drawn criticism from former world No.1 Boris Becker, who took aim at the lack of mental strength among the younger players.
“As much as I respect Roger, Rafa and Novak, young players should show up,” Becker said earlier this month. “Eventually, they will be too old, but you want to see the passing of the torch while they are still in their prime.
“There’s a certain mentality that they (younger players) don’t have, that the three others do have. It’s not the forehands, it’s not the fittest. It’s mindset (and) attitude that makes the difference between winning and losing.”
One player who has already illustrated their potential in the majors is Stefanos Tsitsipas. A 20-year-old Greek player who is already the highest ranked player from his country in history. In January he stunned Federer on route to the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Since then, Tsitsipas has contested four finals on the tour, winning titles in Marseille and Estoril. He has also defeated every member of the Big Three at least once.
“I want to be honest. I would love to see something different this year,’ Tsitsipas recently commented about who could win Wimbledon.
‘Hopefully, it can be me, but I think it’s good for the sport to have a bit of variety, something different. It’s boring to see all these guys winning all the time. Djokovic is the reigning champion”
‘We are responsible for that as well, the new generation, to work hard and believe in ourselves that we can come up with something new, come up with our best games to beat those guys.”
One of those to back Tsitsipas to go deep at The All England Club is John McEnroe. Who was only 20 when he won his first grand slam title at the 1979 US Open. The American believes the world No.6 is the most likely youngster to upset the top guns at Wimbledon.
“Tsitsipas, I think he seems ready to make a breakthrough. To me he’d almost be the most likely guy that would do it (at Wimbledon) if it wasn’t one of those guys.” McEnroe stated.
Few can dispute the talent Tsitsipas has. An aggressive baseline player with a one-handed backhand. However, he isn’t the only person tipped to be the next big thing.
Felix Auger-Alissame has enjoyed a remarkable rise in recent times. Aged only 18, he has climbed the rankings from 117th to 21st within the past 12 months. Becoming the youngest player to break into the top 25 since Lleyton Hewitt back in 1999. Earlier this year he became the third youngest player in the history of the ATP Masters 1000 series to reach the semi-final stage. Doing so in Miami.
“I think this year is just like the fact that everything added up, all the work that I have done, because I felt like for a year now I have been playing pretty well, but I think this year I just kind of found my rhythm, I just found my beat, and I think I have been on the right track.” Auger-Alissme evaluated about his rapid rise on the tour.
The Canadian will be seeded 19th in what will be his first ever Wimbledon tournament as a professional and second Grand Slam main draw overall. He has contested only eight matches on the grass on the ATP Tour so far in his career.
Dennis Shapovalov is yet to win back-to-back matches at Wimbledon. However, he did score a win over Novak Djokovic earlier this week at The Boodles tournament. An exhibition tournament located is Stoke Park, London. Shapovalov believes he and his rivals are edging closer to toppling the Big Four.
“We all know it is not easy to beat these guys, but we know it’s possible.” Shapovalov told tennis365.com.
“These legends of the game just don’t want to leave! We are just waiting or either those guys to finish or we step up a bit, but we are all so young still and it will take time for us to develop and we can start beating them.
“Back in the day, the older guys were ending their careers a lot earlier, but now they are sticking around and it is tough for us to get past them.
“They have a lot of experience, they are still healthy and able to compete with his and there is so much competition out there right now.
“We have a lot of young guys coming up that are really fired up and motivated and then at the same time, the old guys are still winning.
“Us guys trying to make the breakthrough just need a little more experience and then we can start to win the big events and I feel we are closer than ever now.”
For others, Wimbledon provides a platform for them to regain their footing. Alex de Mianur enjoyed a strong start to 2019 before osteitis pubis sidelined him. Now on the comeback, he is targeting steady improvement. It was at Wimbledon last year where he lost to Nadal in straight sets.
“Every tournament you go out there with the intention to get higher,” the 20-year-old explained.
“The higher you get in the rankings the better seedings you get.
“So instead of playing Rafa in the third round you may play someone between 16 and 32 which makes a fairly big difference.
“It’s a work in progress but I have to get as many points as I can so I can get draws that go my way.”
It remains to be seen if the young protagonists of the men’s game can cause a stir at Wimbledon. For the foreseeable future, it appears that the veterans will continue to win the biggest prizes of the sport. However, Tsitsipas is confident that this will soon change.
‘I think it’s all a matter of character and feeling responsible for what we’re doing on the court,” Tsitsipas said. “Some people don’t feel responsible. They don’t want to take that big responsibility of going out and winning and saying: ‘I’m going to overcome all those difficulties and I’m going to beat those guys.’
“I feel like I can beat them. My game will be at its finest if some of the Next Gen players believe that, if the younger generations think positively, I think we can achieve a lot of things. I hope this will happen at Wimbledon.”
The Wimbledon Championships will get underway on Monday.
