A record ten teenagers reached this year’s U.S. Open draw on the men’s side, which was a 25-year high. But as of Tuesday evening only two of the ten (Hyeon Chung and Yoshihito Nishioka) will have reached the second round. Lots of expectations have surfaced this year as teens have performed at a surprisingly high level on an ATP-Tour that has become increasingly physical and increasingly dominated by older, more mature players (a record 40 thirtysomething players made the main draw in New York this year, another record).
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The public’s thirst for a next big thing undoubtedly adds to the pressure that young players like Borna Coric, youngest player in the ATP’s Top-50 and the tour’s highest-ranked teenager, face.
“He doesn’t look like he’s 18,” ESPN’s John McEnroe said of Coric during his four-set loss to Rafael Nadal on Monday night in New York. “He’s got a man’s body, he’s extremely fit. He’s just on this upward spiral. It isn’t going to stop—I don’t think—until he gets all the way to the top.”
McEnroe’s not the first to tout Coric, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Many have compared the young Croatian to his sometimes practice partner Novak Djokovic, and there are most certainly similarities. But I asked Stan Wawrinka last week what he felt of the comparison (and Coric’s game) after he defeated Coric in Cincinnati. Wawrinka, taking the player’s perspective, said he doesn’t like to compare players. Naturally, someone like Wawrinka, who took a long time to develop while under the shadow of Roger Federer, knows that it’s not always wise to rush a player. Media and fans get hungry for success, and if players get caught up in the emotions of it all, they can suffer.
That’s why it’s great to hear what the players have to say, and how they address the hype. Rafael Nadal gave some genuine—and genuinely wise—insight on the subject last night in New York.
Nadal, the last teenager to win a major, says let’s wait and see. And while doing so, he offered up the soundest advice imaginable during his press conference. If all young players haven’t read his words, they surely should. They should print them out and put them on their refrigerator door.
Here’s what Nadal said after being asked if Coric is one of the best of the young players in the game right now. “Let's see. Let's see in the future,” he urged. “We have a few years to see. The best player will be the one who will be able to improve more.
“One of the things that I believe that our generation did well—I know is different generations, but we competed for a long time, Federer, Novak, myself, Andy, David Ferrer—you know, the real thing is we are always, during 10 years, we improved a lot of things. So that's the thing that will make the difference on this new generation. But they are good. We didn't have one generation like this for a while. They are here now. That's good for tennis.”
Nadal wrote in his book, “Rafa: My Story,” about the time he won a prestigious junior tournament and his coach and Uncle Toni came to him and later gave him all of the names of the players who had won the event previously. Look at all the names and tell me if you’ve heard of them now, he asked Rafael. None of them were the type of players or stars that young Nadal idolized. It struck Rafa, and helped build him into a player that is never satisfied and always seeking to improve his game in any way he can.
When asked if he thought that another teenager would ever win a Grand Slam again, Nadal said it’s up to the kids: “It Is not too hard,” he said. “I did that. Hewitt did. It's not a question of the tennis changed and that's tough. Is a question if the new generations are good enough to do it, if the new generations are mentally prepared to do it.
“Seems like, you know, now again, Coric is No. 33 in the world and he's 18. He's very young, too. He going to be in a very high position of ranking very, very soon. I'm sure of that. So is not a question of how hard it is or if the tour changed, is a question of if the players are good or less good. That's my feeling. And if they are able to be ready mentally at that young age.”
Rather than look at the talent that young players possess, there is going to come a time where we’ll have to look at how much they’ve improved and how long it’s taking them to make those improvements. This week in New York, the big, bad world of ATP tennis is proving how hard it is for young players to even win a round at a major. But with the right attitude, desire and coaching, it can be done.
Borna Coric, Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev will still be teenagers next year. It will be fun to watch them grow as they progress through their careers. As far as being in the mix for major titles, as Rafa said, let’s wait and see.