2026 ATP General News

[mrzz]

I think the finesse hopefully will come later, agree plenty of power

hmm... I use to watch a bit of juniors. Really not impressed with these two. Even the power of their shots actually seem sub-par for me (for juniors, I am aware). They might turn out to be very good in the end, but for now, doesn't seem anything special to me.

 

[britbox]

hmm... I use to watch a bit of juniors. Really not impressed with these two. They might turn out to be very good in the end

Anyone you are impressed with that we should be looking out for?

 

[mrzz]

Anyone you are impressed with that we should be looking out for?

I don't follow that much, so I can hardly say that I know well the junior scene. But I do watch a match or two at the very least in the majors. Mostly when there is a Brazilian on court.

Back to your question, rigth now, no one even close with to the vibe I got when I watched Fonseca for the first time. RG junior champion Luis Miguel will probably be very good for our standards, and I do believe he has way more potential than Lee or Hewitt. He did get better results than both in either junior or professional tournaments, and he is younger if I am not mistaken. But I would not affirm he is a shoo in for a future top 10 spot. Potential he has, but it could go in a lot of different ways.

Fun fact, LM will play Nick Kyrgios today in an UTS exho, on clay. I expect him to completly demolish the Australian, no matter how good he might serve.

Miguel was double champions in Wimbledon together with a kid named Ziga Sesko, from Eslovenia. I was impressed with him, but one doubles match, in which they were vastly superior (seemed different categories), is too small a sample... I will try to catch another match if I can. US Open is not far.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

hmm... I use to watch a bit of juniors. Really not impressed with these two. Even the power of their shots actually seem sub-par for me (for juniors, I am aware). They might turn out to be very good in the end, but for now, doesn't seem anything special to me.

Mrzz Hi,

I dont want many junior matches and I only watched the highlights of the boys singles match, I have watched Cruz Hewitt before, and personally speaking to me he isnt a junior 'standout' he is taller than his dad LLeyton and plays a more aggressive game, as for Jordan, first time I have seen him play, as he is turning pro in 2027 I did say to El Dude playing juniors then turning pro is a big jump, let see how he goes, sometimes we put too much pressure and expectation on any junior player when they decide to turn pro.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Turin confirmed as Host of Nitto ATP Finals through 2027 as was previously announced through 2030.Were talks last year it may go to Milan or somewhere else in Italy than Turin but will not be the case at least not until 2028 at the earliest

 

[mrzz]

Mrzz Hi,

I dont want many junior matches and I only watched the highlights of the boys singles match, I have watched Cruz Hewitt before, and personally speaking to me he isnt a junior 'standout' he is taller than his dad LLeyton and plays a more aggressive game, as for Jordan, first time I have seen him play, as he is turning pro in 2027 I did say to El Dude playing juniors then turning pro is a big jump, let see how he goes, sometimes we put too much pressure and expectation on any junior player when they decide to turn pro.

Exactly. Winning in juniors and being succesful as a pro are two different things. As I said, Lee and Hewwit might very well end up being very good players, I just couldn't see anything particularly special. But, it might be there and I am just not able to see it.

 

[El Dude]

Exactly. Winning in juniors and being succesful as a pro are two different things. As I said, Lee and Hewwit might very well end up being very good players, I just couldn't see anything particularly special. But, it might be there and I am just not able to see it.

I haven't done the research, but I'm wondering how it would correlate between those that win a junior Slam at 16, 17, and 18 years old - if the younger guys tend to have more success translating to the ATP tour or not. I have no idea, but that logic basically holds for the ATP: The players who tend to break into the top 100 at 17 or 18 tend to be better than the guys that make it at 19-20 -- as a general rule. Presumably a 16-year old junior champion is, in terms of precedent, a safer bet than an 18-year old, but who knows.

As for Lee/Hewitt, I agree that nothing wowed me, but then again they are 16 and 17, respectively, and I don't feel capable of assessing junior talent. Let's see how they look a year or two from now. Similarly with Kouame...he actually did impress me a bit in that he reached the 3rd round of a Grand Slam at just barely 17 years old, and took #36 Alejandro Tabilo to four sets.

But it is also all-too-easy to get over-excited about really young guys, without remembering that "greatness talent" is quite rare. I mean, consider:

• Jannik Sinner became the 16th player to win 5+ Grand Slams in the Open Era
• Alexander Zverev became the 60th Grand Slam winner of the Open Era
• Only about 140 players have won a big title

If we take 5 GS as the cut-off for true ATGs, then an ATG is born every four years or so, a Grand Slam winner every year or so, and about two big title winners per year. Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest ATG, born in 2003, which means that as an average with a +/- range of two years, the next one will be born in the 2005-09 range. That would be the window of not only Mensik, Jodar, and Fonseca, but also Tien, Landaluce, Kouame, Hewitt, and a ton of other guys. Lee was actually born in 2010, crazily enough.

Maybe all of these young guys turn out to be pretty good, though the majority of them will max out somewhere in top 10 to 100, but I think it is safe to say that of all those players born in the 2004-10 range, only one or two them are likely to become all-time greats. A half dozen might win Slams, and maybe a dozen or a bit more win big titles. That's the "historical precedent math," at least.

 

[El Dude]

Re: the above, Bernard Tomic won the 2008 junior Australian Open just a couple months after he turned 15 years old, making him the youngest AO juniors winner of the Open Era. Not sure about the other Slams - will have to research more. I think Donald Young was also 15 when he won the AO.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I haven't done the research, but I'm wondering how it would correlate between those that win a junior Slam at 16, 17, and 18 years old - if the younger guys tend to have more success translating to the ATP tour or not. I have no idea, but that logic basically holds for the ATP: The players who tend to break into the top 100 at 17 or 18 tend to be better than the guys that make it at 19-20 -- as a general rule. Presumably a 16-year old junior champion is, in terms of precedent, a safer bet than an 18-year old, but who knows.

As for Lee/Hewitt, I agree that nothing wowed me, but then again they are 16 and 17, respectively, and I don't feel capable of assessing junior talent. Let's see how they look a year or two from now. Similarly with Kouame...he actually did impress me a bit in that he reached the 3rd round of a Grand Slam at just barely 17 years old, and took #36 Alejandro Tabilo to four sets.

But it is also all-too-easy to get over-excited about really young guys, without remembering that "greatness talent" is quite rare. I mean, consider:

• Jannik Sinner became the 16th player to win 5+ Grand Slams in the Open Era
• Alexander Zverev became the 60th Grand Slam winner of the Open Era
• Only about 140 players have won a big title

If we take 5 GS as the cut-off for true ATGs, then an ATG is born every four years or so, a Grand Slam winner every year or so, and about two big title winners per year. Carlos Alcaraz is the youngest ATG, born in 2003, which means that as an average with a +/- range of two years, the next one will be born in the 2005-09 range. That would be the window of not only Mensik, Jodar, and Fonseca, but also Tien, Landaluce, Kouame, Hewitt, and a ton of other guys. Lee was actually born in 2010, crazily enough.

Maybe all of these young guys turn out to be pretty good, though the majority of them will max out somewhere in top 10 to 100, but I think it is safe to say that of all those players born in the 2004-10 range, only one or two them are likely to become all-time greats. A half dozen might win Slams, and maybe a dozen or a bit more win big titles. That's the "historical precedent math," at least.

Re: the above, Bernard Tomic won the 2008 junior Australian Open just a couple months after he turned 15 years old, making him the youngest AO juniors winner of the Open Era. Not sure about the other Slams - will have to research more. I think Donald Young was also 15 when he won the AO.

Tomic won 4 ATP titles and he did make the QFs at Wimbledon in 2011, before a massive ranking slide and now transitioning to challenger events? a lot of this massive ranking slide was his own doing.

Uncle Toni invited Donald Young to have a training block with Rafa? it was declined? I felt Young's father had too much control over him, another player that never lived up to his hype or potential

 

[mrzz]

Presumably a 16-year old junior champion is, in terms of precedent, a safer bet than an 18-year old, but who knows.

This makes all sense in the world, even if, as you mentioned a gazillion times, different players age differently. But there is something else, the choices a player makes after his break trough.

Today I was watching Brazilian Thiago Wild playing the second round of a Challenger 75 in Italy, against a guy #704 in the world. Even if Wild was/is WAY better than the other guy, he lost. He was up a set and a break, with break points to go up two breaks, against a guy clearly, clearly inferior, and he lost. Second round of a lowly 75.

Well, Thiago Wild is the 2018 US Open junior champion. He won it against Musetti. A few years later, he won an ATP 250. As a teenager, he beat then fellow teenager Davidovich-Fokina in the Rio Open. He has beaten top 10 players. All the talent in the world...

And now he is losing to the #704 in a challenger 75. The worst part is how he loses. After a few points playing like a normal player, he starts walking on court. He is not even sweating. He walks, and curses, and the balls pass him by, while Musetti and Fokina are happily living the top-20 life.

I bet there was nothing we could see in their play, when those three were teenagers, that would predict how they would end up now. Most likely the deciding factor was, and is, between their ears.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

This makes all sense in the world, even if, as you mentioned a gazillion times, different players age differently. But there is something else, the choices a player makes after his break trough.

Today I was watching Brazilian Thiago Wild playing the second round of a Challenger 75 in Italy, against a guy #704 in the world. Even if Wild was/is WAY better than the other guy, he lost. He was up a set and a break, with break points to go up two breaks, against a guy clearly, clearly inferior, and he lost. Second round of a lowly 75.

Well, Thiago Wild is the 2018 US Open junior champion. He won it against Musetti. A few years later, he won an ATP 250. As a teenager, he beat then fellow teenager Davidovich-Fokina in the Rio Open. He has beaten top 10 players. All the talent in the world...

And now he is losing to the #704 in a challenger 75. The worst part is how he loses. After a few points playing like a normal player, he starts walking on court. He is not even sweating. He walks, and curses, and the balls pass him by, while Musetti and Fokina are happily living the top-20 life.

I bet there was nothing we could see in their play, when those three were teenagers, that would predict how they would end up now. Most likely the deciding factor was, and is, between their ears.

Mrzz
I have often said many times over
Any player can have all the talent and shots in their games
Unless their mental game isn't there.,they can forget about it our game is 80 % mental

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

The ATP will trial more frequent ball changes at the Lexington Challenger next month
Main draw singles get the first change after 5 games, then every 7 - down from the standard 7, then 9.
Backed by the Player Advisory Council, it follows player feedback and hard court ball wear

 

[mrzz]

The ATP will trial more frequent ball changes at the Lexington Challenger next month
Main draw singles get the first change after 5 games, then every 7 - down from the standard 7, then 9.
Backed by the Player Advisory Council, it follows player feedback and hard court ball wear

So on average it is the same (5+7+9)/3=7. What is the point then?

@MargaretMcAleer
Edit:
Actually, they reduced it from 9 games to 7, period. The first used to occur in 7 (and now in 5), because they assume warm up is equivalent to two games.

 

[mrzz]

BTW Luis Miguel did beat Kyrgios in UTS yesterday, but it didn't have much of a competitive vibe, at least the bit that I saw.

 

[El Dude]

Mrzz
I have often said many times over
Any player can have all the talent and shots in their games
Unless their mental game isn't there.,they can forget about it our game is 80 % mental

What are you talking about?

 

[Murat B.]

What are you talking about?

View attachment 10992

Where is Cali when you need him?

 

[El Dude]

This makes all sense in the world, even if, as you mentioned a gazillion times, different players age differently. But there is something else, the choices a player makes after his break trough.

Today I was watching Brazilian Thiago Wild playing the second round of a Challenger 75 in Italy, against a guy #704 in the world. Even if Wild was/is WAY better than the other guy, he lost. He was up a set and a break, with break points to go up two breaks, against a guy clearly, clearly inferior, and he lost. Second round of a lowly 75.

Well, Thiago Wild is the 2018 US Open junior champion. He won it against Musetti. A few years later, he won an ATP 250. As a teenager, he beat then fellow teenager Davidovich-Fokina in the Rio Open. He has beaten top 10 players. All the talent in the world...

And now he is losing to the #704 in a challenger 75. The worst part is how he loses. After a few points playing like a normal player, he starts walking on court. He is not even sweating. He walks, and curses, and the balls pass him by, while Musetti and Fokina are happily living the top-20 life.

I bet there was nothing we could see in their play, when those three were teenagers, that would predict how they would end up now. Most likely the deciding factor was, and is, between their ears.

Yeah, Mr Seyboth is a good example of un-maximized potential.

The two players I like to contrast are 1982 Davids Ferrer and Nalbandian. Ferrer optimized his talent, never gave up, and had an amazing career. His lack of more than one Masters is entirely due to the era he played in, but once he got his mojo back in 2010, he was such a consistently very good player. Nalbandian, of course, is often cited as one of the greatest underachievers in ATP history. He beat peak Federer in the 2005 ATP Finals, then became the only player to beat the Big Three in the same tournament in 2007 Madrid, then followed that up by beating Fedal again in Paris. Unreal talent - he really should have been, at least, a Becker/Edberg level player.

More recently, guys like Tomic and Kyrgios are underachievers. Maybe neither could have been greats, but both should have had much better careers than they had. Someone here--I can't remember who--has suggested that Kyrgios' talent is over-stated, but I'm pretty sure Novak, Roger and Rafa would disagree. I mean, Kyrgios was 6-10 vs those three, a 37.5 W%. Does any other player have as good a W% against the Big Three in 10 or even 5+ matches played?

Oh, wait, both Thiem and Zverev had better records than Kyrgios and Nalbandian. Some top payers vs the Big Three:

Dominic Thiem 16-19 (45.7%)
Alexander Zverev 12-18 (40%)
Nick Kyrgios 6-10 (37.5%)
David Nalbandian 11-20 (35.5%)
Andy Murray 29-56 (34.1%)
Lleyton Hewitt 14-31 (31.1%)
Jo Wilfried Tsonga 16-39 (29.1%)
Juan Martin Del Potro 17-45 (27.4%)
Andy Roddick 11-32 (25.6%)
Nikolay Davydenko 10-30 (25%)
Daniil Medvedev 6-18 (25%)
Marat Safin 4-12 (25%)
Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-21 (22.2%)
Tomas Berdych 13-65 (16.7%)
Fernando Verdasco 7-35 (16.7%)
Stan Wawrinka 12-63 (16%)
David Ferrer 11-59 (15.7%)
Kei Nishikori 7-38 (15.6%)
Milos Raonic 5-30 (14.3%)
Gael Monfils 6-43 (12.2%)
Grigor Dimitrov 3-33 (8.3%)
Richard Gasquet 3-50 (5.7%)

EDIT: Typo on "payers"...but I'll leave it in there, as it is a nice Freudian slip. Poor Richard...

 

[mrzz]

Someone here--I can't remember who--has suggested that Kyrgios' talent is over-stated, but I'm pretty sure Novak, Roger and Rafa would disagree.

That would be me, and I stand by that completely. Also, @brokenshoelace agrees with me, if I remember it right. But I won't derail the discussion here.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

That would be me, and I stand by that completely. Also, @brokenshoelace agrees with me, if I remember it right. But I won't derail the discussion here.

I thought Nick K was carrying too many injuries of late what was he doing playing tennis ?maybe there was a big pay check involved
He said Wimbledon will be his last, I really think he will retire at the AO next year, btw I have already booked again going in the 2nd week

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

ATP500 DC Open has announced 2 doubles wild cards,
Frances Tiafoe and Nick Kyrgios ( speak of the devil )
Ben Shelton and Diego Hidalgo