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In sum, no 20-something seems poised to wrest the mantle from the 30-somethings who’ve dominated the game for thus lengthy.
Prime seed Daniil Medvedev misplaced in straight units in opposition to Roberto Bautista Agut on the Miami Open. AP
Miami: The subsequent technology of males’s tennis stays a jumble of unrealised potential.
With Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer skipping the Miami Open, the match was anticipated to carry the sport’s new faces into sharper focus. As an alternative, the outlook stays fuzzy because the clay season begins.
Sunday’s match between No 37-ranked Hubert Hurkacz and No 31 Jannik Sinner was the primary ATP Masters 1000 remaining since 2003 with two gamers ranked exterior the highest 30. Hurkacz became the lowest-ranked champion within the ATP’s top-level sequence since 2005.
In the meantime, for gamers touted as future Grand Slam champions, Miami represented an opportunity missed. Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev did not make it even to the semi-finals.
“With the Huge Three absent, I feel all of the NextGen guys have been making an attempt their greatest to play their greatest sport, to compete as onerous as they will,” Hurkacz mentioned. “Hopefully the spectators loved it.”
However what ought to followers make of it? Twenty-somethings have been making an attempt to overhaul the Huge Three for years, and no front-runner for 2021 emerged in Miami.
Medvedev, seeded No 1 at a Masters 1000 occasion for the primary time, was upset in the fourth round by Roberto Bautista Agut. No 2 Tsitsipas exited in the same round with a loss to Hurkacz.
“I felt prefer it was my alternative,” Tsitsipas mentioned. “There was more room for me to point out one thing better.”
No 3 Zverev flopped worst of all, double-faulting 3 times on break level in a loss to No 83-ranked Emil Ruusuvuori. No 4 Andrey Rublev, a Russian who leads the tour with 20 wins this 12 months, reached the semi-finals before Hurkacz upset him.
This all got here after Nadal and Federer withdrew earlier than the match began attributable to accidents, whereas Djokovic determined to remain residence in Serbia amid the pandemic.
For Hurkacz, 24, the title is by far the most important of his profession, and the primary for a Polish participant in a Masters 1000 occasion. However he will not be among the many favourites on the French Open.
In sum, no 20-something seems poised to wrest the mantle from the 30-somethings who’ve dominated the game for thus lengthy.
Dominic Thiem received his first main title on the US Open in September, however he’s simply 5-4 this 12 months and skipped Miami.
“The subsequent technology nonetheless has to point out they will beat the Huge Three,” Sinner mentioned. “The subsequent technology is just not prepared but to win in opposition to them constantly. In some unspecified time in the future there would be the second; I do not know when. It may be two years or 5 years, I do not know. However the second will come.”
Maybe Grand Slam greatness will skip a technology, and will probably be somebody now a young person who supplants the Huge Three. Sinner, a 19-year-old baseline basher from Italy, took a large leap in Miami, simply his third Masters 1000 occasion.
Additionally making a splash was unseeded 20-year-old American Sebastian Korda, who reached the quarter-finals earlier than shedding to Rublev. Korda, the son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda, is extensively thought-about the most effective hope to finish an 18-year drought in main titles for US males.
He sounds extra affected person than some followers.
“My dad and mom are tremendous large on child steps,” Korda mentioned. “You may play tennis for thus lengthy in case you keep wholesome — for 15-plus years. Guys now are enjoying till 40; it is unimaginable. There are loads of years forward of me.
“I will at all times put my head down and maintain working, and hopefully in the future I might obtain one thing like what my dad achieved.”
Korda and Sinner have appreciable aptitude and star attraction, as do Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Zverev and Rublev.
“The way forward for tennis appears to be like nice, as a result of the technology is altering,” Rublev mentioned. “The NextGen gamers, they’re totally different. They appear totally different in contrast with earlier ones. I feel they’ve charisma.”
Charisma, sure, however not but many trophies.
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