Huge age differentials (re: Kyrgios vs. Stepanek)

El Dude

The GOAT
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
10,584
Reactions
6,429
Points
113
18-year old Australian Nick Kyrgios just defeated 34-year old Radek Stepanek in what must have been one of the greatest age differentials in a Grand Slam, at least in some years. Anyone remember a differential that big? I imagine Nadal played someone pretty old, and of course if we go back to Becker and Chang we've probably got some massive differentials.

Kyrgios is a player that I've mentioned as being someone to keep an eye on. I don't know his game, but he was a very successful junior player (having won the junior AO this year) and is one of the youngest players on tour - he just turned 18 a month ago.

Speaking of young players, another to look out for is 19-year old Jiri Vesely. He's got a tough first round match against Phillip Kohlschreiber coming up but hey, at least he made it through the qualification rounds.
 

herios

Grand Slam Champion
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
8,984
Reactions
1,659
Points
113
That was ridiculous, Radek is almost twice Kyrgios's age. It will be interesting to see if he can build on it, but Vesely looks to me like a real threat to zoom through the rankings, he is close to get into top 100 and he is rock solid on the challenger tour.
 

El Dude

The GOAT
Joined
Apr 14, 2013
Messages
10,584
Reactions
6,429
Points
113
I figure at just 18, Kyrgios has to be pretty talented to beat Stepanek, who is a consistent top 40 player. And yeah, Vesely looks pretty good. I don't expect much from either for another year or two, but maybe this time next year we'll be talking about Vesely like we are Dimitrov and Janowicz.
 

justapasserby

Junior Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
44
Reactions
0
Points
0
RE: Huge age differentials (Kyrgios vs. Stepanek)

El Dude said:
I figure at just 18, Kyrgios has to be pretty talented to beat Stepanek, who is a consistent top 40 player. And yeah, Vesely looks pretty good. I don't expect much from either for another year or two, but maybe this time next year we'll be talking about Vesely like we are Dimitrov and Janowicz.

not on clay, no. you just have to be fitter (at this point in time) to outgun stepanek on clay. most if not all of the worm's weapons are muted in this surface plus the age doesn't help to outgrind a hungry, fresh teen.

having said that, i haven't watched the match so i can't really say