The London ATP Tour Finals begins next week and the field has been set. Those attending will be Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, and Kei Nishikori. Most notably however, is nobody born in the 1990s will be there. The youngest competitor is Kei Nishikori at 26 years of age. The lack of new faces is evident as time goes on.
Tennis has long been seen viewed by many experts as being in a Golden Age with three all-time greats competing for Slams within the same era. Therefore, the competition to win Slams has always been brutal and they have been met with some challenges along the way in the form of Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka. Who has failed to challenge these all-time great players on a regular basis is the 1990s generation who, despite climbing up the rankings, has failed to make any impact on the biggest states.
In 2007 and 2008, Novak Djokovic and to a lesser extent Andy Murray appeared as challengers to the dominance of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. This represents the case of the newcomers taking the place of the old guard; such is a pattern in tennis history. However, as Djokovic and Murray occupied the top two spots, nobody from the younger generation has offered a challenge to them. The people who have taken Slams off of these players include Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, both of whom have been around the block too long to consider themselves as part of the young generation.
To further demonstrate the disappointment of the new generation, take a look at who competed in London four years ago: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfreid Tsonga, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych, and Mardy Fish. With the exception of two names (Wawrinka and Nishikori instead of Fish and Tsonga) it’s essentially been the same players at the top of the game for five years. So not only have younger players not been able to win Slams, they have failed to even make deep runs in big tournaments and make the top 8.
The primary retort for this is that “the top four guys are simply too good”. While that argument may have worked in 2011, it certainly does not work in 2015. At 34-years-old, it is inconceivable to believe that Federer is playing as well as he did four years ago and beyond. He is much slower and is less powerful as well. Nadal’s decline has been discussed to death over the course of 2015 and how he lacks the confidence. Despite this incredible decline of his, he still finds himself in the top 5 going into London! Andy Murray has been on the rise and is firmly back at the top of the game but there is a wonder if he can get back to his best after having back surgery at the end of 2013. So despite all of these setbacks, the newcomers still are not good enough to push the old guard out.
Grigor Dimitrov is constantly being referred to as the next Federer and has been hailed as a future #1 by several experts. He even reached the top 10 in 2014, which included a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open and the semifinals of Wimbledon, defeating defending champion and home crowd favorite Andy Murray. He qualified as an alternate for London last year but chose not to attend. Failing to meet up with the expectations of last year, his ranking now sits at #28 in the world with his only highlights being wins over Stan Wawrinka in two of the clay masters earlier this year.
Jerzy Janowicz also brought promise to the table where he reached the finals of the Paris masters in 2012 as a qualifier and reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2013. However, injuries set him back at the end of 2013 and early 2014 and propelled him to an impressive nine-match losing streak throughout the clay season. His ranking now sits outside of the top 50 and has no titles to show for the promise he once showed.
Bernard Tomic was a Wimbledon quarterfinalist at age 18 losing, to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, but family issues combined with a questionable work ethic have prevented him from tapping into his potential. He has shown improvement in recent weeks, giving the current #1 a run for his money in Shanghai. His ranking sits at #18 now and seems to be the best off of this trio. However, this was the generation that was supposed to break through and be at the top of the game; so far none have succeeded.
As the 1989-1992 generation has disappointed, it might be crucial to look ahead. Dominic Thiem has won three clay titles this season and has propelled into the top 20. Nick Kygrios has notched wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, but has yet to pick up a title; though it’s hard to see him title-less for long. Borna Coric is the highest-ranked teenager and his wins over Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray are hard to look past.
While no name absolutely sticks out, plenty of young talent is present in the top 100 right now that hopefully can shake up the top of the game. The disappointment of the previous generation led to the top of the game representing the same faces year after year. While we should still enjoy the tennis brought on by the older players, it is alarming that we have seen almost no change in the top 8 in London over the past couple of years. In order to increase the depth and excitement of tennis, new players have to emerge and quite frankly, the lack of new faces has been alarming.
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