Which Young American Will Have the Best Career?

[tenniswright]

Right now it looks like either Taylor Fritz or Francis Tiafoe. But there's a slew of others that are around the same age who also have potential -- Kozlov, Paul, Opelka, Mmoh, Donaldson to name a few.

Just curious to hear others' thoughts. Is Tiafoe's forehand going to be a limitation, or will it improve? Will Fritz continue to rise in the rankings? Will any of them win a major? How much more fun do you think these majors will be if/when the Americans have at least one real contender?

 

[metsman]

pampras

 

[BGod]

Jack Sock. The soon to be 24 year old who's made two 4th Rounds at Slams and batting a 2-3-3-4 this season. Probably a semifinal or two in the coming years.

 

[citybert]

Right now it looks like either Taylor Fritz or Francis Tiafoe. But there's a slew of others that are around the same age who also have potential -- Kozlov, Paul, Opelka, Mmoh, Donaldson to name a few.

Just curious to hear others' thoughts. Is Tiafoe's forehand going to be a limitation, or will it improve? Will Fritz continue to rise in the rankings? Will any of them win a major? How much more fun do you think these majors will be if/when the Americans have at least one real contender?

Was hoping someone would start this thread

I highly doubt Tiafoe altho I do like him his FH is not a weapon(yet). It would have to say fritz at this point. As for the others:

Kozlov is too small
Opelka an Isner type career is his upside. And that would be good.
Donaldson just got super swollen not sure why he went the sock and harrison route and decided to build so much muscle. Nice run in USO but lets see some more
Paul really have no idea
Mmoh I am hoping he is the one but only seen some youtube clips

 

[Laurie]

I don't know these names or the new guys coming through so it will be interesting to see in future.

I have a few issues with American tennis:

1. The first is that America is producing too many players over the height of 6 ft 6 inches. This seriously diminishes the opportunity of ever producing a champion. American tennis needs to find a way of producing players around the height of 6ft 2 inches.

2. American tennis are not finding youngsters with the fast twitch fibres, these youngsters are clearly attracted to other sports, athletics, basketball, American football? where are these fast young athletes going? I look at American players at the minute, they tend to be too tall, and /or too leaden footed, not light footed and nimble around the court. Jack Sock is an obvious example.

3. And despite the fact a lot of players are a little slow of foot, I also felt American tennis forgot its roots over the last 15 years and wanted to play like Europeans. Ironically, Andy Roddick is a good example of this, started off like a brash American, by 2006 was standing by the fence hitting loopy topspin forehands from well behind the baseline. So I feel there has been an identity crisis with American tennis. Even though Madison Keys makes mistakes like there's no tomorrow, I like the fact she plays classic American hardcourt tennis.

I keep hearing about Taylor Fritz, what kind of game does he play?

 

[bigserving]

I will go with Tiafoe. He is the best mover of the whole group. Can't coach speed.

 

[tenniswright]

I don't know these names or the new guys coming through so it will be interesting to see in future.

I have a few issues with American tennis:

1. The first is that America is producing too many players over the height of 6 ft 6 inches. This seriously diminishes the opportunity of ever producing a champion. American tennis needs to find a way of producing players around the height of 6ft 2 inches.

2. American tennis are not finding youngsters with the fast twitch fibres, these youngsters are clearly attracted to other sports, athletics, basketball, American football? where are these fast young athletes going? I look at American players at the minute, they tend to be too tall, and /or too leaden footed, not light footed and nimble around the court. Jack Sock is an obvious example.

3. And despite the fact a lot of players are a little slow of foot, I also felt American tennis forgot its roots over the last 15 years and wanted to play like Europeans. Ironically, Andy Roddick is a good example of this, started off like a brash American, by 2006 was standing by the fence hitting loopy topspin forehands from well behind the baseline. So I feel there has been an identity crisis with American tennis. Even though Madison Keys makes mistakes like there's no tomorrow, I like the fact she plays classic American hardcourt tennis.

I keep hearing about Taylor Fritz, what kind of game does he play?

Fritz has a solid all-around game. There's no huge weapon, but there's no clear weakness. He's pretty tall and covers the court well. In contrast, Tiafoe has a definitive weakness, but potentially a world-class strength in the backhand. He is super quick, too. A great athlete. But tennis still comes down to skill and craft.




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[atatu]

I'm wondering if you guys are watching the same Tiafoe that I'm watching ? His movement is suspect ? - Um no, he's got incredible movement. His backhand is world class ? Well, it's ok but it's a weakness. He has the highest ceiling of any of the young Americans, expect him to be top 20 pretty soon.

 

[tenniswright]

I'm wondering if you guys are watching the same Tiafoe that I'm watching ? His movement is suspect ? - Um no, he's got incredible movement. His backhand is world class ? Well, it's ok but it's a weakness. He has the highest ceiling of any of the young Americans, expect him to be top 20 pretty soon.

Did you watch him play isner? The backhand was awesome. You're right, though, it's not world class yet. I wouldn't have said it before that match, but it has the potential.

The forehand, though, is an issue.


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[tenniswright]

I'm wondering if you guys are watching the same Tiafoe that I'm watching ? His movement is suspect ? - Um no, he's got incredible movement. His backhand is world class ? Well, it's ok but it's a weakness. He has the highest ceiling of any of the young Americans, expect him to be top 20 pretty soon.

And yes, his movement is really good. I don't think anyone is disagreeing.


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[Tshooter]

Fritz has a solid all-around game. There's no huge weapon, but there's no clear weakness...

His serve is a huge weapon. His weakness is his movement.

 

[tenniswright]

His serve is a huge weapon. His weakness is his movement.

I've seen him play in person and wasn't all that impressed with the serve. It's good. At that level not a huge weapon though. It could also partly be that I watched kyrgios play immediately after, and his serve dwarfs everything else by comparison with maybe a couple exceptions.
I thought he covered the court well with his length. I've played guys like him before. Lanky, a bit slow in the feet, but it's still tough to hit winners. Deceptive coverage. It shows up on returns as well. With the length it's just tough to get it by him. That's all I meant by he covers the court well. Just an impression from watching him play live.


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[EdMcMush]

i like tiafoe the most of the group, i feel like he will be the most mentally strong and physically he impresses me

 

[Laurie]

Fritz has a solid all-around game. There's no huge weapon, but there's no clear weakness. He's pretty tall and covers the court well. In contrast, Tiafoe has a definitive weakness, but potentially a world-class strength in the backhand. He is super quick, too. A great athlete. But tennis still comes down to skill and craft.




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Thanks for that. Re your last statement, I have been writing about this since 2007 and have had conversations with journalists about this. And it appears the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) finally got the memo, no player gets to the top in any era without great athleticism. Britain have been producing better athletes like Konta and Murray in recent times and look at the difference. For many years the establishment in Britain were obsessed with hand eye coordination and tennis IQ. If you are speedy enough to get to the ball, you will hit a good shot, then strategy and skill can be worked on, but not the other way around. If you are too slow to the ball, doesn't matter how much talent you have, tennis is not golf.

It may be that American tennis will have to go through this period before they get the memo. Which is ironic after producing athetes of the calibre of Sampras who could have excelled in more than one sport, which is what it should be about, transferrable skills. Steffi Graf could have been a sprinter, hurdler, long jumper. Davenport had wonderful ball striking ability but Venus and Serena had much more success at grand slam level due to their superior athleticism.

 

[tenniswright]

Thanks for that. Re your last statement, I have been writing about this since 2007 and have had conversations with journalists about this. And it appears the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) finally got the memo, no player gets to the top in any era without great athleticism. Britain have been producing better athletes like Konta and Murray in recent times and look at the difference. For many years the establishment in Britain were obsessed with hand eye coordination and tennis IQ. If you are speedy enough to get to the ball, you will hit a good shot, then strategy and skill can be worked on, but not the other way around. If you are too slow to the ball, doesn't matter how much talent you have, tennis is not golf.

It may be that American tennis will have to go through this period before they get the memo. Which is ironic after producing athetes of the calibre of Sampras who could have excelled in more than one sport, which is what it should be about, transferrable skills. Steffi Graf could have been a sprinter, hurdler, long jumper. Davenport had wonderful ball striking ability but Venus and Serena had much more success at grand slam level due to their superior athleticism.

I completely agree that you need to be a top notch athlete to get to the top. Sampras obviously was that. I wouldn't necessarily say he was a fast-twitch type of athlete who could really run and jump, but in the overall athleticism -- foot speed and agility, hand-eye, foot-eye, coordination and body control -- he was absolutely top notch. Graf was just freakishly athletic.

Tiafoe is a superb athlete, though. Athletic enough to be at the top. He just has a real issue with his forehand. My question is whether it will be able to be worked on to the point where he can attain that top ranking or at least top 5. I don't know. At the point where it's at now, it is a gigantic risk to take on mechanical changes. As it is, at worst he'll be at least a top 100, more likely a top 20, player for the next decade. That's millions of dollars in the bank. If he decides to make a mechanical overhaul to shoot for the top, it could be millions more. It could also ruin his career. Adjustments at that level are exceedingly hard to make. It's just not easy to do after someone has come so far doing things a very specific way. To then learn something else to the point where you have complete faith in it under immense pressure -- that is a monumental challenge.

That's my thought on Tiafoe at the moment. He has the athleticism, but does he have the technique?

 

[Laurie]

I completely agree that you need to be a top notch athlete to get to the top. Sampras obviously was that. I wouldn't necessarily say he was a fast-twitch type of athlete who could really run and jump, but in the overall athleticism -- foot speed and agility, hand-eye, foot-eye, coordination and body control -- he was absolutely top notch. Graf was just freakishly athletic.

Tiafoe is a superb athlete, though. Athletic enough to be at the top. He just has a real issue with his forehand. My question is whether it will be able to be worked on to the point where he can attain that top ranking or at least top 5. I don't know. At the point where it's at now, it is a gigantic risk to take on mechanical changes. As it is, at worst he'll be at least a top 100, more likely a top 20, player for the next decade. That's millions of dollars in the bank. If he decides to make a mechanical overhaul to shoot for the top, it could be millions more. It could also ruin his career. Adjustments at that level are exceedingly hard to make. It's just not easy to do after someone has come so far doing things a very specific way. To then learn something else to the point where you have complete faith in it under immense pressure -- that is a monumental challenge.

That's my thought on Tiafoe at the moment. He has the athleticism, but does he have the technique?

Thanks. I googled Tiafoe and checked out some videos on youtube, never heard of him. My initial impression is that he has potential. I need to watch him much more but I see what you mean about his forehand, appears a lot of arm and wrist action. His demeanour and mentality reminds me of Sloane Stephens, perhaps a little reactive.

Maybe it is me but I find it difficult to watch Americans play like Europeans.

Now, regarding why so many young Americans are hitting forehands like this. Could it be, that by learning extreme topspin on hardcourts and not clay, maybe they are not getting it right? The ball reacts differently on hardcourts, perhaps American players are over compensating, hence the ball seems to go away from them, and it looks more arm. When you hit forehands you want to put your whole body weight into the shot, like Agassi and Chang did, not to mention Sampras and Courier, and they used a variety of different grips. Keys puts her whole body into the shot and can overcook it but at least she has the right way.

 

[gino]

1. Tiafoe
2. Fritz
3. Opelka
4. Donaldson
5. McDonald
6. Mmoh

I think only the top 2 can win a major title

 

[tenniswright]

1. Tiafoe
2. Fritz
3. Opelka
4. Donaldson
5. McDonald
6. Mmoh

I think only the top 2 can win a major title

I can't argue with that list. To me Mmoh is still a little unknown though. He's a bit of a wild card at the moment.

But McDonald's serve has to improve. He probably has the weakest serve of the bunch.


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