Young Players at Roland Garros

[El Dude]

I thought it deserving of its own thread to follow and get impressions of the young players at Roland Garros. I'm using "young" loosely; it could apply to age 22 or younger, but especially 20 and younger. The 22 year olds - Raonic, Janowicz, and Dimitrov - are well known and all are threats to at least make it past the first couple rounds. But there are also a few even younger players in the mix this year, namely:

Jack Sock (age 20, 9/92) - Defeated Guillermo Garcia to make it the 2R where he'll face Tommy Haas in another match with a huge age differential (about 15 years).
Jiri Vesely (age 19, 7/93) - as of this writing he's playing Phillip Kohlschreiber in the 1R and tied at one set a piece.
Lucas Pouille (age 19, 2/94) - defeated Alex Kuznetsov to make it the 2R where he'll face Grigor Dimitrov.
Nick Kyrgios (age 18, 4/95) - defeated Radek Stepanek to make to the 2R where he'll face Marin Cilic.

So the above four all have their hands full - whether Vesely right now or Sock, Pouille, and Kyrgios with their second round opponents. But its nice to see them make it to where they are and all four bear watching.

 

[kskate2]

How old is this Goffin kid?

 

[Front242]

How old is this Goffin kid?

Marty McFly is 22 and was seriously impressive tonight. Very unlucky to draw Djokovic, who had to play very well to win in straight sets. It's clear now him taking a set off Fed last year was no fluke. The guy can play! Generates a lot of speed and power for such a skinny fella too. At 22 already it's unclear how much more he'll actually fill out but really he doesn't need to much I guess when you consider Djokovic is very lean too and this aids both stamina and flexibility. Guess bigger legs/stronger core would help him add even more power, especially to his serve. But as it is he's extremely impressive even at only 68kg. Would like to see him bulk up to 75kg or so and see if it adds much more power but he's doing just great as it is.

 

[coban]

How old is this Goffin kid?

Marty McFly is 22 and was seriously impressive tonight. Very unlucky to draw Djokovic, who had to play very well to win in straight sets. It's clear now him taking a set off Fed last year was no fluke. The guy can play! Generates a lot of speed and power for such a skinny fella too. At 22 already it's unclear how much more he'll actually fill out but really he doesn't need to much I guess when you consider Djokovic is very lean too and this aids both stamina and flexibility. Guess bigger legs/stronger core would help him add even more power, especially to his serve. But as it is he's extremely impressive even at only 68kg. Would like to see him bulk up to 75kg or so and see if it adds much more power but he's doing just great as it is.

I just needs to start doing some core excercises and pushups etc, he'll be good

 

[Front242]

How old is this Goffin kid?

Marty McFly is 22 and was seriously impressive tonight. Very unlucky to draw Djokovic, who had to play very well to win in straight sets. It's clear now him taking a set off Fed last year was no fluke. The guy can play! Generates a lot of speed and power for such a skinny fella too. At 22 already it's unclear how much more he'll actually fill out but really he doesn't need to much I guess when you consider Djokovic is very lean too and this aids both stamina and flexibility. Guess bigger legs/stronger core would help him add even more power, especially to his serve. But as it is he's extremely impressive even at only 68kg. Would like to see him bulk up to 75kg or so and see if it adds much more power but he's doing just great as it is.

I just needs to start doing some core excercises and pushups etc, he'll be good

Yeah and mostly eat more I reckon Murray has really bulked up a lot (legs have really bulked up) but kept his speed and it's really added to his game so Goffin could do the same.

 

[herios]

I thought it deserving of its own thread to follow and get impressions of the young players at Roland Garros. I'm using "young" loosely; it could apply to age 22 or younger, but especially 20 and younger. The 22 year olds - Raonic, Janowicz, and Dimitrov - are well known and all are threats to at least make it past the first couple rounds. But there are also a few even younger players in the mix this year, namely:

Jack Sock (age 20, 9/92) - Defeated Guillermo Garcia to make it the 2R where he'll face Tommy Haas in another match with a huge age differential (about 15 years).
Jiri Vesely (age 19, 7/93) - as of this writing he's playing Phillip Kohlschreiber in the 1R and tied at one set a piece.
Lucas Pouille (age 19, 2/94) - defeated Alex Kuznetsov to make it the 2R where he'll face Grigor Dimitrov.
Nick Kyrgios (age 18, 4/95) - defeated Radek Stepanek to make to the 2R where he'll face Marin Cilic.

So the above four all have their hands full - whether Vesely right now or Sock, Pouille, and Kyrgios with their second round opponents. But its nice to see them make it to where they are and all four bear watching.

Interesting how Sock lost to GG lopez 2 weeks ago in straights at Bordeaux and now he beat himalso in straights , so he is learning fast how to play on clay.
He is about to knock down the door of the top 100, it ill be for me interesting if he'll pass Harrison, ho was considered the next big american hope.

Vesely, although lost to Kohlschreiber, he played on equal term the first 3 sets with Phillip.
He is climbing very fast, from 263 end of last year to 127, as he won 3 futures and 2 challengers this year, he has left 6 weeks or so to make the top 100 and become the next teenager there, as there in none at the moment.

 

[El Dude]

Vesely and Kyrgios are now out. Hard to imagine Sock or Pouille making it past their 2R opponents, but some interesting showings overall. It will be fun to watch these guys.

One disappointing young player is James Duckworth. It seems a year or two ago he was being touted as the next great Australian player.

 

[Moxie]

The NYTimes had an interesting piece today on the "aging" of the ATP, in particular, though it has stats for the women, as well. It brings up a lot of things we've discussed on the topic. (Couldn't help but think of you, Dude, when I read it.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/31/sports/tennis/31iht-teenage31.html?ref=tennis&_r=0

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

the atp tour is getting so old, soon 74 yr old rod laver will be back playing again.

 

[herios]

I thought it deserving of its own thread to follow and get impressions of the young players at Roland Garros. I'm using "young" loosely; it could apply to age 22 or younger, but especially 20 and younger. The 22 year olds - Raonic, Janowicz, and Dimitrov - are well known and all are threats to at least make it past the first couple rounds. But there are also a few even younger players in the mix this year, namely:

Jack Sock (age 20, 9/92) - Defeated Guillermo Garcia to make it the 2R where he'll face Tommy Haas in another match with a huge age differential (about 15 years).
Jiri Vesely (age 19, 7/93) - as of this writing he's playing Phillip Kohlschreiber in the 1R and tied at one set a piece.
Lucas Pouille (age 19, 2/94) - defeated Alex Kuznetsov to make it the 2R where he'll face Grigor Dimitrov.
Nick Kyrgios (age 18, 4/95) - defeated Radek Stepanek to make to the 2R where he'll face Marin Cilic.

So the above four all have their hands full - whether Vesely right now or Sock, Pouille, and Kyrgios with their second round opponents. But its nice to see them make it to where they are and all four bear watching.

Interesting how Sock lost to GG lopez 2 weeks ago in straights at Bordeaux and now he beat himalso in straights , so he is learning fast how to play on clay.
He is about to knock down the door of the top 100, it ill be for me interesting if he'll pass Harrison, ho was considered the next big american hope.

Vesely, although lost to Kohlschreiber, he played on equal term the first 3 sets with Phillip.
He is climbing very fast, from 263 end of last year to 127, as he won 3 futures and 2 challengers this year, he has left 6 weeks or so to make the top 100 and become the next teenager there, as there in none at the moment.

I woke up early, so I thought I am going to see what's happening outside RG
This highest ranked teenager, Vesely, is playing in a clay challenger in the Czech Republic , Prostejov and he made it into the second round.
Then i checked who he played and I see it was GG Lopez!. So he just recorded his first top 1000 win.
I am unsure how far he'll go here, because shockingly is a heck of a field for a challenger, on clay, right before Wimbledon, here are the seeds:
1. Florian Mayer
2. Lukas Rosol
3. Jarkko Nieminen
4. Albert Montanes
5. Radek Stepanek
6. Albert Ramos
7. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
8. Jan Hajek
but, these are strong signs for Jiri Vesely to be the next teenager getting into the top 100, before he turns 20, in july.
And by the way, Sock is also playing here and he made it also into R2, and based on his RG, Sock is already ranked 101, the next american to get into the top 100, possibly by the end of the week,if he plays well.