Dear readers, first off I’d like to thank you for your ever-growing support. For this reason, I’ve decided to publish my annual Crystal… Bald predictions for the 2020 season, a long-standing tradition for my Italian readers.
How did I do last year? Well, my numbers clearly came around, since I nailed the opening 11 prophecies, most of them not as easy to foresee, such as Federer not winning any Majors but reaching the French Open semis and joining the 100 Tournaments Club, or Nadal winning the Roland Garros for the 12th time, Osaka taking the AO, or a NextGen player making a Slam final, as well as the more pessimistic ones on Murray and Del Potro’s fitness – needless to say, I’m proud of this Federeresque record, and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to replicate it in the future.
Obviously, I badly missed on some others: for instance, I predicted a great year from Sascha Zverev (actually, judging from his 2020 form so far, last year might have actually been triumphant in comparison), and a heroic Serena Williams comeback, whom I thought would tie Margaret Court’s record tally, but I fell a couple of finals short – especially recalling the Centre Court steam-rolling by Halep.
So, now that my ethos and credentials have been shown (sort of), let’s get going with a whole new teleological haul, i.e. what will happen in Year 1 of the new decade:
- Federer won’t squander any more match point leads.
- 2019 was the last year so thoroughly dominated by two of the Fab Four.
- A NextGen will win a Major. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were in for a brace of youngsters.
- Tsitsipas will reach the Top 3 – he is also the likeliest to win a Major.
- Nadal won’t be rude to me, and I will be more careful with the phrasing of my questions.
- However… Zverev might underperform in the first six months of the season (and especially in Melbourne and Paris) due to the many exhibitions played with Federer that are likely to hinder his conditioning. If that were to happen, I’d be all but compelled to remind Rafa that he said to me: “If Sascha doesn’t win a Major in two years, you’ll be allowed to tell me that I’m a tennis illiterate.” Diplomatic incident alert, y’all.
- I will scheme to get Djokovic to say “not too bad” one more time.
- I’ll be interviewed by Channel 9, the Down Under network that will broadcast the Australian Open for the first time, whose brass won’t want to miss a chance to discuss my viral gags with the Big Three.
- I’ll make peace with Fognini – okay, this is too far.
- The new ATP chairman, Andrea Gaudenzi, will deny ever advocating a shortening of sets from 6 to 4 games. A very earnest bloke in the past, he’ll become a politician in his own right – it’s everybody’s fate. He’ll court the powers that be and he’ll forget about the small time reporters who saw him grow into this position.
- The NextGen ATP Finals will be moved to Turin in 2021 as a leading-up event to the actual Finals.
- Jannik Sinner, Italy’s most promising player, will have a similar progression to Djokovic’s. Nole finished as No.83 at 18 years old, in 2005, before reaching No.16 the following season. Sinner finished last season as No.78, and I believe he could be No.16 by the end of 2020.
- Benito Perez Barbadillo, Nadal’s manager, will mellow and learn to appreciate others for what they are, with no prejudice.
- Serena Williams won’t win a Major, thus not equalling Margaret Court’s record of 24 Slams. She betrayed me last year by not making it, so I’m tanking her this time around.
- Coco Gauff will experience some growing pains early in the year, suffering from the media pressure, but then will rise.
- Andreescu and Osaka will meet in a Major final.
- Denis Shapovalov will break the Top 10.
- The biggest letdown between the ATP No.10 and 20 will be David Goffin.
- Nick Kyrgios will rise from the ashes.
- Medvedev and Tsitsipas will re-assert their place as Slam contenders.
- ATP comebacks of the year: Del Potro and Chung.
- More letdowns: Zverev and/or Federer.
- ATP Top 5: Djokovic, Tsitsipas, Medvedev, Nadal, Thiem.
- WTA Top 5: Andreescu, Osaka, Barty, Halep, Bencic.
- WTA comebacks of the year: Muguruza and/or Stephens.
- Amanda Anisimova will also stage a comeback after a difficult end to last season.
- WTA letdowns: Serena and/or Pliskova.
- The biggest letdown between the WTA No. 10 and 20 will be Angelique Kerber.
- A final, chauvinistic prophecy: Matteo Berrettini won’t manage to keep the eight spot in the rankings – hopefully, he will get back to the top when the ATP Finals will move to Turin – while Fabio Fognini will come back to the Top 10 early in the year, and the will crash out after Monte carlo.
- A final, chauvinistic prophecy, Part II: Italy will have another great year in men’s tennis, with as many as three players in the Top 20.
PS: I know that No.22 will piss off a lot of people, but I’m prepared to take the heat. Happy 2020!
Translated by Tommaso Villa
