By Chris Oddo | Thursday June 22, 2017
For those interested in knowing more about the next wave of men’s tennis talent from Russia, Friday provides a pair of showcase tilts that should satisfy some curiosity.
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In Halle, Karen Khachanov, fresh off a round of 16 appearance at Roland Garros, will battle with his friend and compatriot Andrey Rublev in the day’s first quarterfinal. Khachanov is 18 months older than Rublev, and his ranking is much higher, but it’s a toss-up as to which player has more upside.
Both are special talents that could land in the Top 10 someday. Khachanov is tall, imposing and hard-hitting. Thus far in his career he has demonstrated a flair for the dramatic and a proclivity for riding his emotions to the next level in big matches and on big stages. He proved his chops when he won the Chengdu title last year. The way the Russian harnessed his positive energy on that run and took charge of his matches bodes well for his future. He didn’t beat a Top 20 player but powered past some very experienced ATP names such as Feliciano Lopez, Viktor Troicki and Albert Ramos.
Rublev has been on the radar of those in the know for several years but he didn’t assure himself of a Top 100 ranking until this week. To put it mildly he’s been inconsistent as he’s struggled to adjust to the rigors of the ATP level, but all the while Rublev has exhibited eye-popping explosiveness and lightning-quick racquet-head speed. Simply put, the kid is a shotmaker; the 19-year-old Muscovite is an electric personality with an electric game, and he may have a future as a prototypical baseliner in the mold of Kei Nishikori or—who knows?—Novak Djokovic.
He’s rail thin at 6’2”, 144, but the power is there, and so is the moxie.Rublev reached his first ATP quarterfinal on Thursday with a nine-ace performance against the old guard of Russian tennis, 34-year-old Mikhail Youzhny.
Was that match a symbolic, changing of the guard moment for the Russians? We should know more about that in the next 52 weeks as Rublev looks to become a fixture in the Top 100.
Tomorrow’s first-time meeting with his good friend Khachanov should be a good test of his ability to battle on the big stage. Khachanov has proved himself in that regard over the last year; what can Rublev do to measure up?
Over at Queen’s Club another Russian is rising. Daniil Medvedev is into the quarterfinals and will rise to a career-high ranking next week as a result. The 21-year-old has been dealing with an illness for the last few months, but before that he made a big splash, showing his potential by reaching the final in Chennai and following it up with back-to-back quarterfinals at Montpellier and Marseille.
Medvedev is far from a typical grass-courter, but he achieves some of his best results on the surface. He took out a very good grass player in Nicolas Mahut in his first round match and on Thursday he absolutely crushed Thanasi Kokkinakis to set up a quarterfinal with Grigor Dimitrov.
Tall, rangy and blessed with fluid mechanics on both wings, Medvedev is an interesting player. At 6’6” 176 he’s also rail thin but can cover the court surprisingly well.
It will be interesting to see what he can do against he more experienced and higher-ranked former Queen's champion Dimitrov. Like Rublev, Medvedev has never earned a Top 20 win; Meanwhile, Khachanov has four.
Khachanov, the highest-ranked Russian at this current time (Khachanov is 38, Medvedev is 60 and Rublev is 106), is most certainly ahead of his compatriots in terms of his development, but all three are rising steadily. On Friday we’ll get to take a measurement of where they all stand as Wimbledon approaches.