2008-2016: the drought is over (?)

helterskelter said:
Interesting. So unless there's a teenager quarter-finalist at RG 2016, that will mean just four teenage Slam quarter-finalists in the 40 most recent Slams (so 4/160 quarter-finalists teenagers). And only one of them 18 or younger. (Kyrgios and Gulbis were 19 when they made their QFs, Tomic was 18).

Tomic has really stalled since his breakout GS QF and tour title. Perhaps he's starting to move forward again recently, but he's 23 and a third now.
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I hope he never makes the top 10 in his career. Normally I wouldn't wish ill will on someone, but he's a guy I cannot stand and I cannot respect.

But then again, he's 23 and worth over 10 million dollars, so he doesn't care.
 
beast of mallorca said:
And can you, through the kindness of your heart, allow Rafa to win his La Decima at this year's French Open ? And not allow any youngster, or any other to win it, and delay the prophetic message of this thread. Just for this year, heh ? ...........:D:D:cool::p:p:D:):p:D:p
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9e9de4630d5d64e698d9be5b0294b857.jpg
 
interesting graph. an alternative hypothesis would be technology has been pretty stable since 2008 preventing newcomers from getting an edge by adopting newer racquet/string technology, having a play style better adapted to changed court speeds/thicker felt balls and so on, allowing us to return to the 70's situation where the tech hadn't really changed for a while from wood and gut.
 
PeteD said:
As people have pointed out, teens don't do that well anymore, period. Here are the 21 youngest slam winners:
Youngest%20Slam%20winners.JPG
Click to expand...
It's worse when you count repeats:
  1. Chang 17y 03m 20d
  2. Becker 17y 07m 15d
  3. Wilander 17y 09m 15d
  4. Borg 18y 00m 10d
  5. Becker 18y 07m 14d
  6. Nadal 19y 00m 02d
  7. Borg 19y 00m 09d
  8. Sampras 19y 00m 28d
  9. Wilander 19y 03m 19d
  10. Edberg 19y 10m 19d
  11. Nadal 20y 00m 08d
  12. Borg 20y 00m 27d
  13. Wilander 20y 03m 17d
  14. Hewitt 20y 06m 16d
  15. McEnroe 20y 06m 24d
  16. Safin 20y 07m 14d
  17. Djokovic 20y 08m 05d
  18. Kuerten 20y 08m 29d
  19. Wilander 20y 09m 18d
  20. Courier 20y 09m 23d
  21. Del Potro 20y 11m 22d
 
Gary Duane said:
It's worse when you count repeats:
  1. Chang 17y 03m 20d
  2. Becker 17y 07m 15d
  3. Wilander 17y 09m 15d
  4. Borg 18y 00m 10d
  5. Becker 18y 07m 14d
  6. Nadal 19y 00m 02d
  7. Borg 19y 00m 09d
  8. Sampras 19y 00m 28d
  9. Wilander 19y 03m 19d
  10. Edberg 19y 10m 19d
  11. Nadal 20y 00m 08d
  12. Borg 20y 00m 27d
  13. Wilander 20y 03m 17d
  14. Hewitt 20y 06m 16d
  15. McEnroe 20y 06m 24d
  16. Safin 20y 07m 14d
  17. Djokovic 20y 08m 05d
  18. Kuerten 20y 08m 29d
  19. Wilander 20y 09m 18d
  20. Courier 20y 09m 23d
  21. Del Potro 20y 11m 22d
Click to expand...
Lots of maiden slam winners aged 20. Let's hope 2017 is the year for the next one.
 
stringertom said:
The first of his Wimbys...he would probably have been #12-13 were it not for WTT.
Click to expand...
Can you imagine that? Someone can't play a slam because of WTT? People who have only watched tennis for the past couple decades have no idea how different things were then. And also it was lonely back then. Top players did not travel with a whole support group of players, some of whom were close to the same age. I think the loneliness more than anything else got to Borg...
 
Vive, I saw this thread title and thought you might have some breaking news on California and the American Southwest's ongoing water crisis. Alas, they're still as brown as a pair of post-match Nadal shorts, a tinder box for wildfires, a festering sore of parched humans gathering their weaponry to invade my Pacific Northwest in attempted plunder of our prodigious water resources.

In the meantime, congratulations to all of the young tennis players. It feels like they're finally starting to make waves ... which, ahem, you need water to do.
 
The level is so incredibly high in the 2010's it's almost impossible as a teenager to be up there. Players need more time to get their game used to this high standard. A similar trend is average age of the top ranked players which is increasing signifcantly. Even excepional talents like Becker, Sampras or Nadal wouldn't have make an early breakthrough nowadays.
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
the "void streak" is broken for finals (thx to coric and fritz) but we're still waiting for a teenage tournament winner !
(fritz ? zverev ?...)

here is the youngest "winning meat" we had since nishi/delpo/cilic, according to the ATP website:
Cbxl881XIAEgqq3.jpg


as regards slams, kyrgios already did something relatively rare by reaching multiple slam QFs as a teenager.
(since djokovic at RG 2006, the only other teen-QFs were gulbis at RG 2008 and tomic at W 2011)
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Do players get to keep the trophy or do they just get some fake replica. like Wimbledon nobody gets the beautiful trophy you just get to keep some replica...
 
FedFosterWallace said:
That's an insane stat.

Coric's a snooze, but the sturdy boot launching his opponent to Finland is laudable. :)
Click to expand...
Sewretch would have booted N*dull out of his Real Slam today. I'll be surprised if he plays USO after this debacle. His whole arm is falling off from wrist to shoulder.
 
I'm liking how things are shaping up (no puns Tom!).
Thiem doing well. Zverev winning. Pouille winning. The bratty Aussies (Tomic and Kyrgios) doing, well, sort of good, even if underplaying their true talent. OK, nevermind on that last comment. The young Americans (Fritz, Foe, Donaldson, Kozlov) knocking on the door. The young teen gang behind them (Tsitsipas, Shapovalov, Ruud, FAA, Kecmanovic), trying to figure things out, with a couple of them likely to surge forward.

I'm optimistic. Perhaps a bit Pollyannish, but definitely optimistic.

2qsnwi0.gif
 
Mainad said:
Interesting that it is such a rare thing nowadays. Every single member of the current top 10 (apart from Thiem) won their maiden titles while still in their teens!
Click to expand...
I believe Wawrinka and Raonic were in their 20's before winning at ATP level...Wawrinka, age 21, at Umag'06 (Tjovic retired due to fatigue in the final:eek:) and Raonic, age 20, at San Jose'11.
 
stringertom said:
I believe Wawrinka and Raonic were in their 20's before winning at ATP level...Wawrinka, age 21, at Umag'06 (Tjovic retired due to fatigue in the final:eek:) and Raonic, age 20, at San Jose'11.
Click to expand...

Yes, you're right (as usual). I miscalculated their ages and dates of 1st titles (thought Raonic was born towards the end of 1991 instead of 1990 and that Umag was in 04 instead of 06). Silly me. Good to know there's at least one of us on the ball at all times! :oops::)
 
stringertom said:
I believe Wawrinka and Raonic were in their 20's before winning at ATP level...Wawrinka, age 21, at Umag'06 (Tjovic retired due to fatigue in the final:eek:) and Raonic, age 20, at San Jose'11.
Click to expand...
Sewretch was 51 when he first won a game in a match where he lost 6-0, 6-1 to a truck driver Randy Overhead in the Southern Cali 3.0 league qualifications round. Quite an achievement if you ask me, especially with that kind of forehand.
#ajourneyofathousandmilesbeginswiththefirststep
 
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