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

hi all, as a die-hard Murray fan I watched the match, so can give a brief report


well Dimitrov started beautifully, going for his shots and pulling off some stunners. Murray started sluggishly (putting it mildly, a FH error, DF and missed overhead costing him his opening service game) and Dimitrov was painting the lines so raced ahead to 3-0 in about 8 minutes. Murray then started to find his feet and Dimitrov to miss a few more, so the game leveled out and both players were untroubled until 5-3. Then Dimitrov had a shocker, three loose FHs (one of them a real sitter) giving Murray break back points, saved one, but Murray dominated the next with some big hitting and it was back on serve.

Can't recall if it was at 5-4 or 6-5 but Dimitrov rallied to earn set point, which Murray snuffed out with an ace out wide and we were into a TB. Well the TB was where Murray upped his game and Dimitrov simply couldn't cope. A couple of loose shots and some brutal hitting and serving from Murray gave him the TB 7-0 and the first set.

Slow start to the second set, and at 3-2 you felt Murray's concentration beginning to waiver. Dimitrov was good enough to take advantage and broke for 4-3 (some very loose shots from Murray). However the world n°3 bounced back and reeled off a superb return game to break straight back (big return which Dimitrov couldn't handle, big return setting up a FH winner and a brace of BH winners). My internet unfortunately started playing up at 5-4 so missed the last game where Murray broke to take the title.

Thoughts on Dimitrov? Well he's improved a lot since I last saw him. The serve has pop, though Murray seemed to get a read on it (shouldn't worry too much about that, Murray gets a read on most serves). The FH looks excellent, a real fluidity to that shot and really goes through the ball. Could work on his inside-out FH (inside-in is excellent). BH more of a mixed bag, has a lovely slice which really knifes through the court and when he drives it up the line it's very good too, but needs to work on his rallying shot and BH cross court which don't really do much yet. Has excellent touch at the net. Return of serve is a bit of a weakness, maybe needs to shorten the swings he takes off the FH return. Mentally he seemed a bit fragile, but that's maybe to be expected when you're playing Murray in a first tour final.

All in all, I like the look of this guy, think he can go far. With him, Tomic having good weeks, Raonic hopefully continuing to improve, suddenly the future of tennis looks brighter again.

Having watched Grigor through the current Tournament there is no doubt he is one for the future, top ten for sure unless something radical happens to prevent it.

I agree with MFC that with the addition of Tomic & Raonic who have youth on there side as has Dimitrov, the future is looking brighter!

MFC
Good match report.

MFC - good summary.

What impressed me most about Dimitrov (apart from that delicious slice he has) is how tactically aware he is. If Murray has a slight weakness during a rally it's dealing with really short low balls on his forehand.

With his slice, Dimitrov made him play that shot time and time again, and won loads of points off it. I can see why they call him baby Federer. Similarly easy movement and fluid motion on the SHBH. He has the technique, he has the athleticism, he has the work ethic.... Just needs to keep improving and get more consistent which will come over the next couple of years.

He's maybe got the most all round game of all the young players.

i think what he said was key 'for the 5 setters' he cramped against gasquet of all people in round 2 at the french in set 2 i think!

he has to improve his fitness for the slams before he can make an assault on the top 10 surely.

Dimitrov has lost to Fognini. Meh. Still could be a blessing in disguise as at least he'll be fresh for the AO...

Bernard just beat Anderson in the Sydney final.

maybe there is hope for the new generation after all.

The main thing is that it is a tournament win and they have to start somewhere. I would have been more impressed if he had beaten a top ten player in the final.

you can only play what is in front of you

well done Tomic

maybe Murray was right

Just when we'd thought he'd turned the corner..... (Nice car. Not.)

http://the-slice.com/2013/01/tomic-loses-license-after-speeding-again/

Christian Harrison won a title in GB today defeating Corrie (or something) in the final.

Dimitrov vs Tomic playing in Netherlands, into a deciding st.
PM me if you want a live stream of the match.

Janowicz lost in two sets to Hanescu. Should maybe concentrate on his own game rather than having a pop at the top guys.

The Special Juan wrote:Christian Harrison won a title in GB today defeating Corrie (or something) in the final.

Is that Ryan's younger brother I hear his younger brother is better at his age than Ryan was. JJ, has a lot of physical tools, but mentally to me this bluster and his act in the AO whinning about a terrible call yes but taking it to that extreme was kind of silly. But give the kid some time it isn't easy being instantly thrown in the spot light. I think Novak will beat him soundly the next time they play and will be better than the kid for quite some time, but it will be interesting to see how close the match is the first time they play and how hard JJ fights. Really was a silly move on his part though to make himself the center of a controversy for attacking the top players.

Yes it's Ryan's brother. Apparently he's comparatively a better player but we'll see where it goes. I hear Djokovic Jr Jr (Djordje) is a good player too.

Yes Juan but as you say they are too far away from the top ranks to know if they are going to really good or not.

Bagel for Goffin.

To elaborate, it's a bagel for Nieminen against Goffin and the Fin is 2-0 up in the second. Double bagel?

Yes, Nieminen completes the double bagel. I'm starting to think young Mr Goffin was a flash in the pan.