Russeljones
Talk Tennis Guru
John Lloyd For The Mail On Sunday
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/t...ot-young-players-not-know-play-grass-yet.html
How disappointing to see the ‘next-gen’ group of Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all fall in the first round.
Unlike the top three, who never really go below an eight out of 10, these guys have way too many four out of 10 performances. There’s still a fragility in their mentality and that needs to change if they are to challenge the big three, who are dominating here once again.
But I think it also has to do with the surface here. A lot of the young players don’t know how to play on grass yet. Grass isn’t as different to the other court types as it used to be but it is still different. The movement and the little subtleties of grass — like when to come in and the slice movements and how to stay low on the ball and get back into position — are different to the other surfaces.
Of these young guys, Zverev was the biggest disappointment here. What the heck is going on with him? He sometimes, quite frankly, looks like he is mentally just not there.
I thought with Lendl being involved that would have changed something but it doesn’t seem to have done yet. I don’t know what the block at Grand Slams is. He is a very talented player and you keep thinking this is going to be the year but it’s just not happening yet. There is no consistency, it’s too much up and down.
Tsitsipas perhaps deserves a slight pass and I do think he will take the step up but at the moment his movement isn’t there on grass. He looked all over the place at Queen’s, really, and again at Wimbledon he just wasn’t comfortable.
He will get that — and of all the young players he is the guy I think is going to be the one — but if you saw him play here you would probably doubt that.
Thiem had Sam Querrey so it was a tough first round, but it was disappointing as he didn’t look like someone who was the next player after the top three. He didn’t carry himself that way. But it’s hard to be too tough on him because he did get to the final of the French two years in a row.
You can give a pass to Felix Auger-Aliassime because he has just started, while Denis Shapovalov was disappointing as this should be a good surface for him and he looked very average. The weapons are all there but if you don’t put it together you don’t win at this level.
Borna Coric has got to work on his variety and I am not sure he has all the shots he needs in his arsenal yet.
Daniil Medvedev is quirky and does some good things well but doesn’t make enough aggressive moves at the right times.
Going into the second week with none of them left in the draw is a real shame.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/t...ot-young-players-not-know-play-grass-yet.html
How disappointing to see the ‘next-gen’ group of Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas all fall in the first round.
Unlike the top three, who never really go below an eight out of 10, these guys have way too many four out of 10 performances. There’s still a fragility in their mentality and that needs to change if they are to challenge the big three, who are dominating here once again.
But I think it also has to do with the surface here. A lot of the young players don’t know how to play on grass yet. Grass isn’t as different to the other court types as it used to be but it is still different. The movement and the little subtleties of grass — like when to come in and the slice movements and how to stay low on the ball and get back into position — are different to the other surfaces.
Of these young guys, Zverev was the biggest disappointment here. What the heck is going on with him? He sometimes, quite frankly, looks like he is mentally just not there.
I thought with Lendl being involved that would have changed something but it doesn’t seem to have done yet. I don’t know what the block at Grand Slams is. He is a very talented player and you keep thinking this is going to be the year but it’s just not happening yet. There is no consistency, it’s too much up and down.
Tsitsipas perhaps deserves a slight pass and I do think he will take the step up but at the moment his movement isn’t there on grass. He looked all over the place at Queen’s, really, and again at Wimbledon he just wasn’t comfortable.
He will get that — and of all the young players he is the guy I think is going to be the one — but if you saw him play here you would probably doubt that.
Thiem had Sam Querrey so it was a tough first round, but it was disappointing as he didn’t look like someone who was the next player after the top three. He didn’t carry himself that way. But it’s hard to be too tough on him because he did get to the final of the French two years in a row.
You can give a pass to Felix Auger-Aliassime because he has just started, while Denis Shapovalov was disappointing as this should be a good surface for him and he looked very average. The weapons are all there but if you don’t put it together you don’t win at this level.
Borna Coric has got to work on his variety and I am not sure he has all the shots he needs in his arsenal yet.
Daniil Medvedev is quirky and does some good things well but doesn’t make enough aggressive moves at the right times.
Going into the second week with none of them left in the draw is a real shame.
