V2 Youngster Watch

First topic message reminder :

There has been a lot of talk analysing the future prospects of the tennis world on 606v2. There has indeed been a scepticism, and the reality is that in the top tier of the men's game there is no player below the age of 22 challenging for Grand Slam tournaments or any major titles.

Nevertheless, as we have seen in the past, young players can enjoy rapid progress and success, even when it is not expected. They can mature very quickly and rise seemingly out of the blue, as we have seen in the past!

Anyway enough of the deep analysis and speculation, this thread will just be monitoring the progress of the younger players in the Top 50 or so (Blue Group). I know that in Grand Slams there is a lot of exposure of the results, but the reporting on the smaller 250 tournaments is much more limited, so I will be keeping a log on the progress of certain young players, updating their performance every week. This is not my TWS Series 2, it is something a bit different

Nominated Players:
Blue Group:
Milos Raonic
Bernard Tomic
David Goffin
Ryan Harrison
Grigor Dimitrov
Jerzy Janowicz

Red Group:
Cedrik Marcel Stebe
Jack Sock
James Duckworth
Andrey Kuznetsov
Yuki Bhambri

Green Group:
Oliver Golding (18)
Philip Peliwo (18)
Kimmer Coppejans (18)
Luke Saville (18)
Dominic Thiem (19)

Amritia's 'ones to watch out for in 2013':
-Jerzy Janowicz
-Milos Raonic
-Bernard Tomic

David Goffin won 6-2 6-2 vs Ebden in Brisbane.
Good result against home player who usually does well on home turf.
Let's see if this player can push on with his obvious talent this year.

He could, I think he might not make the progress people might expect as he stutters getting used to being better known, and the pressure goes up a bit to do better. That's only a good thing though as he'll come out better for it with a good bit of coaching.

It Must Be Love wrote:He's even better than Sampras
He's really gutsy because he goes for aces

He is also better than old hang dog Sampras himself, as he doesn't sweat as much as Pete did in the forehead area and more importantly he doesn't have to stick out his tongue whilst posing like a hunchback doll in order to distract opponents !

Also on this subject of youngsters to look out for, what about Lukas Rosol ? Can this big-hitting swing-from the hips tennis upstart continue on from his amazing exploits at Wimbledon in 2012 and repeat the same feats for when a certain moonballer returns back into action on the main tour ?

gboycottnut wrote:

It Must Be Love wrote:He's even better than Sampras
He's really gutsy because he goes for aces

He is also better than old hang dog Sampras himself, as he doesn't sweat as much as Pete did in the forehead area and more importantly he doesn't have to stick out his tongue whilst posing like a hunchback doll in order to distract opponents !

Also on this subject of youngsters to look out for, what about Lukas Rosol ? Can this big-hitting swing-from the hips tennis upstart continue on from his amazing exploits at Wimbledon in 2012 and repeat the same feats for when a certain moonballer returns back into action on the main tour ?

Not sure we can count Rosol as a youngster, i'm afraid

Tomic beats Djokovic in Perth!

Interesting to hear that, thanks

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-02/tomic-stuns-djokovic-in-hopman-cup/4450802

How's Novak's leg?

The Special Juan wrote:How's Novak's leg?

He said it's not an issue.

I've nominated 3 players who are young and I think might hit the big time (ie top 10) in 2013.
Feel free to do the same.
My picks were:

-Milos Raonic
-Bernard Tomic
-Jerzy Janowicz

It Must Be Love wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:How's Novak's leg?

He said it's not an issue.

We'll see.

As for the young players:

Raonic is a certainty although I neither enjoy watching him play nor want him to win anything.
Tomic, the early signs are good so it'll be interesting to see how he steps up this year after last year's debacle.
No idea on my 3rd pick though.

Tomic needs a bit of a reboot i guess. He started very well last year at the AO, showed some fight against Verdasco, but it went wrong as the year went on. If he can reapply himself and show that fight and interest through the year. Top 15 isn't out of reach.
Steady as she goes for Raonic, keep learning, keep improving, maybe up his court position specially for the return.
Jerzy's an interesting one,i've no idea

gboycottnut wrote:Also on this subject of youngsters to look out for, what about Lukas Rosol ? Can this big-hitting swing-from the hips tennis upstart continue on from his amazing exploits at Wimbledon in 2012 [...]?

Rosol just lost a tight 6-0 6-4 battle with up-and-coming Paolo Lorenzi from Italy

Am I right in thinking that Hopman Cup is just an exhibition tournament?

Shame, 'cause it would have been nice for Screech to start the year with a real defeat against his name.





rotapicname

emancipator wrote:Am I right in thinking that Hopman Cup is just an exhibition tournament?

Shame, 'cause it would have been nice for Screech to start the year with a real defeat against his name.





rotapicname

A scores website I used which is very good didn't have the Hopman Cup down as an exhibition tournament unlike that Abu Dhabi one just played (it normally states "exhibition" beside the tournament name), but it probably is.

Dimitrov gives Raonic a hiding (ok, 3 and 4 but it's still funny). Goffin just falls short v Melzer though which is a shame.

Who on Earth is John Millman?

He's really good.
He's going to thrash Murrau, guaranteed.

He's serving for the second set here...

It's a Rosol moment for sure. The Australians must have a vendetta against the top players at the moment.

I might watch this if it gets interesting...

Millman is 23 years old, a bit too elderly for this thread.
Maybe Murray is losing because of the oppressive 25 second rule.

Ha, bottled it. 5-5.

Don't think it's on TV but it's streamable.

Oh no, I spoke too soon!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!

The Special Juan wrote:How's Novak's leg?

Exactly the same size as it was last week, except there may be one or two minor bruises on it.

Dimitrov backed up the Raonic win, beating Melzer in straight sets. He next plays Baghdatis for a chance to play Murray or Nishikori in the final.

And here's highlights of Tomic's win over Djokovic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZEP6O-7Ak&list=UUf-NtXoINkcd_zu48xPPfJQ&index=1

I only saw the first 4 minutes of the video before my internet crashed but there were some great shots.

The Special Juan wrote:And here's highlights of Tomic's win over Djokovic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auZEP6O-7Ak&list=UUf-NtXoINkcd_zu48xPPfJQ&index=1

I only saw the first 4 minutes of the video before my internet crashed but there were some great shots.

Always knew that Tomic had the talent and ability to achieve a victory over one of the top 4 players in the world, what he needs still however is for his serve to become bigger and be a major weapon as at the moment, it looks easier to break his serve as it for his opponent to lose his serve when playing him.

I thought the serve looked better during those highlights than I'd ever seen it so he looks to be developing his game now. It needs a bit more work but he's got plenty of time of his side. Some of the shots he was pulling off were incredible.

The Special Juan wrote:I thought the serve looked better during those highlights than I'd ever seen it so he looks to be developing his game now. It needs a bit more work but he's got plenty of time of his side. Some of the shots he was pulling off were incredible.

Incredible maybe but it still won't be good enough to beat Lord Federer.

Some impressive wins for Dimitrov in Brisbane. With Baghdatis as semi-final opponent, he has a good chance of reaching his first-ever ATP final!

Meanwhile in Doha, Davydenko is trying to roll the back the years!

Glad to see both Dimi and Davydenko starting the season well. Davydenko has been such an underappreciated player. And Dimi is perhaps the only one among the young generation that I can see myself becoming a real fan of.

Hi SB

Hope you are keeping well

I like Dimitrov, I don't like Davydenko though.

Hi Amri, the season is starting so I am slowly waking up from my hibernation. Happy belated New Year to you.

Why not Davy? Poor guy. His tennis is better than people give him credit for.

Nah, I don't mind his tennis.
I used to like him until a few days ago.
Then he said something I didn't like.

It didn't go down very well

It Must Be Love wrote:Nah, I don't mind his tennis.
I used to like him until a few days ago.
Then he said something I didn't like.

It didn't go down very well

LOL, I forgot about that. You are a fanboy, aren't you? I did not read it so carefully, but on the first read it was not that clear to me he meant it as an anti-Nadal comment. It could have just as well been a somewhat playful way of saying that now he did not have to worry about playing him. But I admit I did not read it carefully, so could be wrong.

Anyway, Grigor is playing in one hour. If I can find a feed to watch it, that will be the first match of the new season for me.

SB- do report in how Greg is playing, I'll probs be asleep during the match.
If you want I can also inbox you a link to the match.

so, Dimitrov reaches his first ATP tour final with a battling win over Baghdatis, he's beaten some very good players along the way so well done him.

Nishikori retires against Murray, caught a bit of the match before my internet crashed and after a sluggish start Murray was much the better player. My worry with Kei is his serve just doesn't have enough pop on it to trouble the Murrays and Djokovics, who'll be breaking him much too often.

Some interesting comments from Murray the other day, in that he sees Tomic as the biggest talent from the young generation (nice to see he agrees with me ), saying something along the lines of "he has more variety". Maybe he sees a little of himself in Tomic. All in all, good to see the youngsters generally doing well at the beginning of the season, let's hope for more.

i think goffin and dimi are more talented than tomic 2bh.

v2 favourite JJ plays in the Heineken cup Open from the 7th to the 12th.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Heineken_Open_%E2%80%93_Singles

I'd agree with that LuvSports.
Great to see a guy with SHBH coming through too...brings more variety to the game.
Maybe this is where Grigor starts to realise his potential...he and Goffin just need to get stronger to push up to Top20 or higher if they can.

do you think his footwork has improved lydian? I remember last year koenig saying he was just a step slow (that he could and needed to fix) in preparing for the next shot.

I hope dimi plays freely 2mo, he is a big underdog. COME ON DIMI!

I don't see him beating Murray. We all know what Murray can do to a SHBH and I think that trend will continue. Still, good to see someone promising doing something well.

what? lose every GS encounter they play?

Yes, poor Reechard. *cough*

Mad for Chelsea wrote:Some interesting comments from Murray the other day, in that he sees Tomic as the biggest talent from the young generation (nice to see he agrees with me ), saying something along the lines of "he has more variety". Maybe he sees a little of himself in Tomic.

Murray is now in Australia. If he repeats his comments while on the Bulgarian swing of the season, I will take them more seriously.

I was happy to see Grigor fnally putting together some good results. He also showed some toughness - Marcos looked at times in the third set ready to pull away and win. Unfortunately, I cannot see him beating Andy. I watched a bit of Andy's match and - watching it right after the other match - it was striking how much harder it is to win a point against Murray than against some of these other guys. Andy returns with ease shots that other guys struggle to get to. And Dimi does not have Roger's brilliance to create enough holes is Andy's armour.

Yes he seems a step quicker LuvSports, dare say he's been putting the hard work in over the off-season...learning to get into position even earlier, lots of side to side power drills, etc...plus his conditioning will be coming on all the time.

Gasquets SHBH is different to Federer's, what undoes Richard is that huge take back of his...guys with DHBHers like Murry and Djokovic take time away from him and he ends up further and further behind the baseline to allow time for that big wind up stroke. Federer doesn't need all that time, his stroke can be played quicker and earlier...only Nadal with huge RPM and height causes him a problem on that wing...he copes with Murray easily enough.

Grigor has a BH more like Feds than Gasquets so he should be able to learn to cope better...IMO. Still, Murray is fave tomorrow of course all considered.

I've had a look at the highlights and Dimitrov played very, very well (about 70% of the highlights were wonderful shots by him). His forehand looks like a real weapon and the backhand wasn't too shabby. Without watching the whole match to get a really good feel for his game, the future looks bright for him, especially if he can a certain 1 Dimensional Canadian who will no doubt be his biggest rival in 5 years.

apparently he served for the 1st set and blew it with 4 UE's