Where are the young spanish guys?

[dominikk1985]

Spain has still 12 guys in the top100 the most of all nations (was 15 in 2009 though).

however there are basically no young players. all but 3 of the 12 already have been in the top100 in 2009.

player, age
nadal, 26
ferrer, 30
almagro, 27
verdasco, 28
granollers, 26
lopez, 31
andujar, 26
ramos, 24
garcia-lopez, 29
gimeno-traver, 27
bautista-agut, 24 (never heard his name)
ramirez hidalgo, 34

so all of them are in the mid to late 20s, some even over 30.

If you look at the juniors it doesn't look better, only one is in the top50 and he is only 38th.

however you have to consider that spaniards rarely make a splash at the juniors. even stars like nadal, moya, costa, ferrero did not do a lot at the junior grand slams (why is that?). the spaniards did not win a single junior GS in the last decade but still have a lot of players.

however still the future of spanish tennis doesn't really look bright looking at those numbers. spanish tennis really seems to be aging with noo top prospects waiting in the line.

 

[beast of mallorca]

Spain has still 12 guys in the top100 the most of all nations (was 15 in 2009 though).

however there are basically no young players. all but 3 of the 12 already have been in the top100 in 2009.

player, age
nadal, 26
ferrer, 30
almagro, 27
verdasco, 28
granollers, 26
lopez, 31
andujar, 26
ramos, 24
garcia-lopez, 29
gimeno-traver, 27
bautista-agut, 24 (never heard his name)
ramirez hidalgo, 34

so all of them are in the mid to late 20s, some even over 30.

If you look at the juniors it doesn't look better, only one is in the top50 and he is only 38th.

however you have to consider that spaniards rarely make a splash at the juniors. even stars like nadal, moya, costa, ferrero did not do a lot at the junior grand slams (why is that?). the spaniards did not win a single junior GS in the last decade but still have a lot of players.

however still the future of spanish tennis doesn't really look bright looking at those numbers. spanish tennis really seems to be aging with noo top prospects waiting in the line.

To be honest, no specific country at present, not Serbia, France, Switzerland or US(correct me if I'm wrong) appears to have juniors who are spectacular at the moment. You can probably throw in Tomic, Saville, pELIWO AND sILVA, but nobody in that group has made a dent yet in the ATP except for Tomic. So, we'll see

 

[dominikk1985]

yes I agree most other countries have not coming up a lot either. the young players field is from a lot of countries even some "exotic" ones like bulgaria, lithuania...

however it is still strange that there is not a single spaniard in the 17-23 age group that projects to be world class (or even top30 or so) especially considering that spain has more than 10% of the top100 players.

what is wrong with the often praised spanish system?

 

[beast of mallorca]

I imagine that the next big Guns out there are in the 11-15 yrs old. So much so, that they would just be right for emergence in 6-7 yrs time which will coincide with the top 4 retiring or at the very least declining.

 

[El Nino]

I think a lot of Spanish coaches avoid players playing in the ITF Junior Circuit and prefer to train longer and jump straight to Pro instead. I met a player called David Vega Henandez at the RPT conference in 2010 and he played like a top 10 junior and he said that there's lots of young Spanish players yet they choose to play In the Tennis Europe Junior tour instead for confidence booster, finances. Theres a channel on YouTube called 'EliTenis' which show match clips of spain best juniors.

 

[beast of mallorca]

I think a lot of Spanish coaches avoid players playing in the ITF Junior Circuit and prefer to train longer and jump straight to Pro instead. I met a player called David Vega Henandez at the RPT conference in 2010 and he played like a top 10 junior and he said that there's lots of young Spanish players yet they choose to play In the Tennis Europe Junior tour instead for confidence booster, finances. Theres a channel on YouTube called 'EliTenis' which show match clips of spain best juniors.

Thank you. Will try to catch that.

 

[augustobt]

My favorite youngster from spain is Javier Marti.

 

[dominikk1985]

I think a lot of Spanish coaches avoid players playing in the ITF Junior Circuit and prefer to train longer and jump straight to Pro instead. I met a player called David Vega Henandez at the RPT conference in 2010 and he played like a top 10 junior and he said that there's lots of young Spanish players yet they choose to play In the Tennis Europe Junior tour instead for confidence booster, finances. Theres a channel on YouTube called 'EliTenis' which show match clips of spain best juniors.

that might be correct.

the last spanish junior GS winners were:
-carlos cuadrado (01 never heard of him)
-alberto martin (96 solid career but nothing special)
-jacobo diaz (never heard of him)
-roberto carratero (one hit wonder with a hamburg win)

at the same time a lot of spanish players came up who never made a splash at the pros.

however still there should be some 20 yo guys who are borderline top100 now even if the skip the juniors. shouldn't nadal have caused a "tennis boom" in spain?

 

[beast of mallorca]

well, you can say the same thing for Germany with Graf and Becker, but where are they now ? or with the Serbians (with Djoker, Jankovic etc )

As it is, there is no formula, to be honest.

 

[El Nino]

Maybe the clay court dominance of Rafa has put the spainards off a little bit. Most spanish players are grinders and clay courters. Clay court is not a everyday sight on the ATP tour. That's why lots of them are sticking to challengers and futures as they have a streak of tournaments on clay.

 

[El Nino]

@beast of Mallorca

Someone like Nole didn't develop from the Serbian system, he went to Germany to develop his game. Again with the Germans, lots of them are playing with the Bundesliga Tennis league which consist of top 200+ Pro from Germany. The LTA are even the opposite, they are focusing on the Juniors and not on the ATP pros. There doing well with the WTA though (Robson, Watson etc.)

 

[Ms Nadal]

There is some guy called Marty/Martinez or something? I think. He might be up and coming.

 

[beast of mallorca]

@beast of Mallorca

Someone like Nole didn't develop from the Serbian system, he went to Germany to develop his game. Again with the Germans, lots of them are playing with the Bundesliga Tennis league which consist of top 200+ Pro from Germany. The LTA are even the opposite, they are focusing on the Juniors and not on the ATP pros. There doing well with the WTA though (Robson, Watson etc.)

And Nadal did not develop from the Spanish League or system, whatever it is.

My point of contention is, the top players which sprung from an era, does not automatically equate to a next generation of top players, as someone was alluding to. Each has a unique core of development.

But obviously, having big players in your country, do boost up its popularity and in a bigger picture, results in a better likelihood of new generation of players. These players might not necessarily be, top guns...........like Germany. Hope I got the message across.

 

[Ms Nadal]

And Nadal did not develop from the Spanish League or system, whatever it is.

My point of contention is, the top players which sprung from an era, does not automatically equate to a next generation of top players, as someone was alluding to. Each has a unique core of development.

But obviously, having big players in your country, do boost up its popularity and in a bigger picture, results in a better likelihood of new generation of players. These players might not necessarily be, top guns...........like Germany. Hope I got the message across.

Yes, that is why Rafa is very unique and a one off! We will never see another Rafa! I hope and pray that he does come back and that my fears do not come true. Rafa is a credit to the game and I was so glad when he arrived on the scene and stopped the boring FedEx machine from that domination!. I hope that some other young Spaniards come to the tour. We need some exciting new players! . Because otherwise with all these ageing Spanish players their game will go through a lull as the Australian tennis world has. So Spain, get some new younsters through!

 

[dominikk1985]

It seems like a good youth system does not boost the top players as much as it does boost the very good players.

for example in germany after the becker boom there were a lot of good players in the 150-500 range in the world ranking but very few made it to the top.

it seems like you can "produce" good players but planning to create a top guy doesn't really work. in the end it is about talent.

still a good youth system makes sense because with more technically well schooled juniors the chance is higher to pick one top guy.

 

[augustobt]

There is some guy called Marty/Martinez or something? I think. He might be up and coming.

Javier Marti.

He is a good claycourter.

 

[Deleted member 21996]

I imagine that the next big Guns out there are in the 11-15 yrs old. So much so, that they would just be right for emergence in 6-7 yrs time which will coincide with the top 4 retiring or at the very least declining.

serious mode on:

i somewhat agree with this. after the big 4 retire, i predict a 1999-2004 era with no dominant players. some might end up calling it a weak era. we will see!!!!

\serious mode


troll mode on:

this is all pure speculation since i am no NSK, so i cannot be sure that Nadal will be raking up FO's well into his 60's...

\troll mode

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Every country is finding it hard to break through these days because there's more diversity than in previous decades.

 

[reversef]

Spain has had a few great generations. It has to stop at some point. It's always the same pattern. Look at the state of swedish tennis now and try to remember how strong it used to be.
Nevertheless, it's not strange that the young spanish players do not have big results in the juniors. They prefer to play professional events very early (futures). It has always been that way.