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With the likes of Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Eugenie Bouchard, Simona Halep, Pablo Carreno-Busta and a few others already establishing themselves on the ATP tour level and the Grand Slams with some good results this year, the sport is seeing a new generation of players take centre stage.These players have caused major upsets in few tournaments, and it looks like, in a few years time that these players could be challenging the top players and pose a serious challenge for Masters titles and Grand Slams as well. Here is a list of the top 5 Under 20 players in tennis right now. ( Men and Women)
#5 Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev broke onto the scene after winning the Australian Open Juniors title in 2014.
Zverev won his first ATP Challenger Tour title at the Sparkassen Open in Braunschweig defeating three players ranked within the Top 100. He defeated the likes of Tobias Kamke in the first round, top seed 56th-ranked Andrey Golubev in the semifinal, followed by the 89th-ranked Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final. Zverev became the youngest player to win a Challenger tournament since Bernard Tomic won the Maccabi Men's Challenger in 2009.
Standing at 6’6”, he has the backing from big names like John Isner and Andy Murray. Murray has known Zverev since he was a little kid. Both of them practiced together recently.
“I think he's very good,” says Isner. “He's very tall, which I like, obviously nowhere near as tall as me. When I practise with him, you can tell he's pretty under-developed. And that's a good thing. He's got so much room to improve. Being a tall kid, he hits the ball extremely well from the baseline. He's got a lot of weapons. I think when he grows into his body, he's going to be a force. I really think he's a good tennis player.”
Will Zverev be able to live up to the words of John Isner and Andy Murray? He is currently ranked 143 in the world
#4 Borna Coric
Borna Coric, aka “Baby Djokovic” has been the talking point in tennis recently with his breakthrough result against Rafael Nadal at the Basel Open where he beat the Spaniard 6-2, 7-6(4) in the quarterfinals.
Coric won his first major title in the form of the U.S Open Juniors title in 2013. He has had a string of good results in 2014 at the senior level. In April, ori defeated then No.21 Jerzy Janowicz on the first day of Davis Cup. In July, in the 1st round of the clay court event in Umag where he was playing with a wildcard, ori scored another notable top-50 win, beating 7th seed No.46 Édouard Roger-Vasselin. He upset Lukas Rosol in the first round of the U.S Open, but lost out in the second round to Victor Estrella Burgos.
Coric has been dubbed as “Baby Djokovic” because of the similarities in the style of play between the two players.
At just 17 years of age, Coric broke into the top 100. The previous two people to achieve this feat were Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet – 10 years ago.
#3 Belinda Bencic
At just 17 years of age, this promising youngster from Switzerland had qualified for all the 4 Grand Slams this year,and crossed the first round in all of them barring the French Open.
After Martina Hingis, Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka, it looks like the future of Swiss tennis is in safe hands thanks to the latest teen sensation in the world of tennis.
In the U.S Open this year, she had her breakthrough performance where she reached the quarterfinals and beat world number 7 Angelique Kerber of Germany, followed by a win over former world number 1 and ninth seed Jelena Jankovic in straight sets on her way to the quarters. After becoming World no. 1 at the junior level in 2013, she has already made her mark at the senior level with her impressive performances on the court this season.
She has been taking tips from her idol Hingis, who has been impressed of whatever she has seen of Belinda. Bencic would look to stamp her authority in the coming years.
#2 Madison Keys
Madison Keys, the youngster from USA has established herself as one the best youngsters in the sport today. She made history 4 years ago, by being the youngest player ( at the age of 14 years 8 months ) to win a WTA match. It was at the Ponte Vedra Beach where she received a wildcard for her first WTA tournament. She beat world no. 81 Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round, but was later defeated by top seed Nadia Petrova.
She has got immense amount of praise from top players like Chris Evert and Serena Williams as well. She qualified for her first Grand Slam – Australian Open 2011 at the age of 15, where she won her first round, but got knocked out in the second round.
She had reached the 3rd round of the Australian Open and the French Open this year. Her breakthrough result came at the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open as she notched up the biggest win of her career and her first victory over a top-ten opponent when she defeated world no. 5 Li Na in the first round.
Keys has powerful groundstrokes and dominant serves over 100 mph. She is primarily an offensive baseline player and her game is built around taking control of rallies with powerful serves and return of serves.
She is currently ranked 31 in the world and is just 19 years old.
#1 Nick Kyrgios
Out of the 5 players, it seems like Nick Kyrgios is the most established player. The 19 year old Australian teenager made his mark at the junior level by winning the Wimbledon juniors title in 2013. It was not long before he made a mark at the senior stage as well.
Just like Borna Coric, his breakthrough performance came against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon this year, where he absolutely dominated the Spaniard. Kyrgios’s win against Nadal is considered better than Coric’s considering that it was in a Grand Slam. His best performance at a Grand Slam was reaching the quarter-finals of the Wimbledon this year.
Before Nadal, his biggest scalp was former World no. 8 Radek Stepanek, whom he beat in the French Open last year. He had a memorable match against Benoit Paire in the second round of the Australian Open, where, after winning the first 2 sets, he cramped up, and lost the next 3, thus losing the match.
His phenomenal serve, imposing athleticism, and his pace around the court is something to look out for in the future as he looks to break into the top 10 next year. He is currently ranked no. 53 in the world and he is just 18 years of age.
