THOSE WHO DIDN’T MAKE IT
We could start with the Englishman James Baily, who became the first Briton to win a Junior Grand Slam after 28 years at the 1993 Australian Open (the last one had been Gerald Battrick at the Roland Garros, 1965). All eyes were on him, and the expectations grew dramatically when the English newspapers highlighted that the list of previous champions of the junior event included Rod Laver, Ken Rosewell, John Newcombe and Stefan Edberg. This situation put a lot of pressure on him, and he was overwhelmed, leading the country to completely forget about him, just like had happened with Stanley Matthews Jr, who won Wimbledon 1962 but is only remembered for being the son of the great football player. Eighteen months later, Baily would stop playing.
Alexandre Sidorenko was born in St. Petersburg but represented France. He won the Australian Open in 2006, but as a pro he played only two Grand Slam tournaments as a wildcard, at the French Open in 2007 and 2009 – in the latter occasion, he was defeated in the first round by his hero Marat Safin. In 2015, he played in the Italian A2 league, just before quitting tennis in 2017, at 29.
The Australian-born Brit Brydan Klein won the AO in 2007. It seemed a good start for him because in the same year he won his first Futures (the first of 20, the last one coming in March in Mildura). In 2009, he won his first-round match at the Australian Open but Wawrinka put an end to his dreams. The same year, he won his only ATP Challenger tournament, again in Australia. It seemed the beginning of a good career, but it was downhill from there. Unfortunately, in the following years he went on a slow and inexorable decline. He was also given a six-month ban after racially abusing Raven Klaasen during a match at Eastbourne. Currently, he is 31, ranked 385th, and hasn’t played after the tour’s Coronavirus hiatus.
The Spaniard Carlos Cuadrado won in Paris in 2001 but went on to only win one Futures tournament the same year. Aged 22, he pulled the plug and ran away to Australia, where he become a successful coach (for Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anastasia Pavlychenkova) before one more radical reinvention in 2019: he decided to travel around the world on a sailing boat!
Clement Morel won the 2002 Australian Open, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi-finals. The highest point of his professional career were two Futures titles won respectively in 2006 and 2008, the year he switched nationalities and began representing Monaco – he played two Davis Cup ties for the Principate. At the end of his career, he elected to continue his studies at the Lyon Business School: he is now the commercial director of Wilson in France and Belgium.
Have you ever heard of the Czech David Skoch, the Boys’ Wimbledon champion in 1992? Maybe some doubles fans… like, real die-hard ones.
The Brazilian Tiago Fernandes won the Australian Open in 2010, ending the season at the top of the junior ranking. In 2014, he announced his retirement to focus on his university work after earning a prize money of 22,000 dollars, not enough even for tuition fees.
Oliver Golding won the Australian Open in 2011 and clinched six Futures tournaments, the last of which in 2017 in Piombino, Italy. More “brilliant” was his acting career: he made his debut as a child in “Homecoming” (1998) before appearing in British TV series “Kate and Emma” and “Keen Eddie” – we can honestly say that he hasn’t reached the top in any of his career activities.
Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik was the protagonist of the 2007 season when he won Roland Garros and was a finalist at Wimbledon. However, his best career ranking was a meagre N.137. He’s never featured in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, and he only became famous for a record set against him in 2012 – his opponent Sam Groth hit the fastest recorded tennis serve of all time at 263 km/ph.
Aussie Luke Saville won Wimbledon and was runner-up in Australia in 2011. The following year he won the Australian Open and lost the Wimbledon final. A future great? His career after that indicates that this isn’t the case.
Frenchman Julien Jeanpierre won both the single and the doubles tournament at the Australian Open in 1998, beating Federer, Nalbandian and Hewitt. He didn’t repeat as a pro, but he secured three Challenger titles between 2006 and 2008.
The Swede Daniel Berta won in Paris in 2009, beating Pablo Carreno Busta along the way. However, nothing more is known about the 28-year-old – the ATP site officially classifies him as inactive.
Canadian Filip Peliwo dominated the 2012 season by reaching the final in all four junior Slams, winning Wimbledon and the US Open on his way to finishing the year in first place in the junior rankings. As a pro, he won two Futures and he lost in the final of two more tournaments. Now he’s 26, ranked 353rd and hasn’t started playing again after the lockdown.
Nicolas Pereira, the Venezuelan, equally dominated the 1988 season by winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, thus coming close to Edberg’s record. As a pro, he reached his best ranking at N.74 and won two ATP tournaments. An honest career, but a far cry from expectations.
Finally, another who seemed destined to great things was the American Donald Young, who won the Australian Open in 2005, at 15 years and six months, an unmatched record of precociousness. In 2007, not yet 18, he won Wimbledon and made headlines all over the globe. For too many years, the Americans had been waiting for the heir of Sampras and Agassi, and his being touted as the best African American player since Arthur Ashe only increased the hype – it is no coincidence that on the cover of NewsWeek (“Who’s Next” Edition) his photo was close to that of Barack Obama. His professional career was more than respectable, as he achieved a career-high of N.38 in 2012. He won six Challengers and reached two ATP 250 finals. However, to be honest, everyone (himself included) expected much more.
Article by Massimiliano Gaiba; translated by Giuseppe Di Paola; edited by Tommaso Villa
