Young guns exciting men’s tennis

The future of men’s tennis is promising just looking at where things stand at the end of 2018.

At long last there is a growing list of young players making sufficient inroads to give tennis followers hope that the transition from the ‘Big Four’ dominance of the major tournaments may not be too far away.

Of course the ‘Big Four’ notation is being challenged by a ‘Big One’ just for now, but circumstances could invalidate that too as Novak found in 2016.  Nothing is guaranteed secure.

The following players ended 2018 with career high rankings:

11. Karen Khachanov, aged 22,  ranked 45 at start of 2018
12. Borna Coric, aged 22, ranked 48 at start of 2018
13. Fabio Fognini, aged 31, ranked 27 at start of 2018
14. Kyle Edmund, aged 23, ranked 50 at start of 2018
15. Stefanos Tsitsipas, aged 20, ranked 91 at start of 2018
16. Daniil Medvedev, aged 22, ranked 65 at start of 2018

Apart from Fabio Fognini, who had previously reached #13 in March 2014, the other 5 climbed to their current ranking through their 2018 exploits.

Because of the ages of those five young guns (add 19 year old Alex de Minaur who moved from 208 to 31 in 2018) there is likely to be an excitement generated in men’s tennis in 2019 to match that which is already apparent on the women’s tour.  A changing of the guard beginning, at least at the edges, Sascha Zverev already mixing it in the top five at 21, Dominic Thiem solidly in the top ten and still only 25.