Alexander Zverev is a future No. 1
Although we have seen the old guard rule the roost – with Roger Federer dominating the hard-court season and Rafael Nadal following up in the clay court swing (Nadal is lossless on clay so far this year), we’ve also seen that tennis is by no means only focused on the two former No. 1s. With World No. 1 and 2 Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic struggling across the board, the younger generation of men’s players has more than stepped up to the plate.
Key among them is NextGen star Alexander Zverev, who has widely been pipped by multiple top players as being a future No. 1. The youngest top20 ATP player, Zverev last year beat Stan Wawrinka to win his first ever ATP title at St. Petersburg – and heading into the Madrid Masters this year, won his first ever home title – and his first one on clay, at the Bavaria International.
Zverev has followed that up with another strong showing at Madrid, beating two experienced campaigners, in the form of Grand Slam winner Marin Cilic (currently world No. 7) and former top 10 player Tomas Berdych. The young German managed a quarter-final finish in Madrid, scalping a set off clay-court veteran Pablo Cuevas before his eventual exit.
Seeded 16th at the Italian Open, Zverev is up against South Africa’s Kevin Anderson in Round 1 – not a difficult foe for him, and will have yet another chance to prove his clay-court prowess.
Having done well on all surfaces and adding some strong clay court wins to his kitty, Zverev really has proved he can be a future No. 1.
Another name key here is Borna Coric. Once touted as tennis’ next big thing, Coric had a few injury struggles that stunted his progress. But he too has shown strong wins on clay – and this year, at the Madrid Masters Coric, who lost in qualifiers to Mikhail Kukushkin, came back into the tournament as a lucky loser – only to oust World No. 1 Andy Murray from the tournament – in straight sets, 6-3 6-4, on the heels of beating a number of senior players.
Men’s tennis has immense promising talent, and these players have shown it.
Dominic Thiem is a force to be reckoned with
Austrian ace Dominic Thiem, currently the World No. 9, is considered among the best of the current generation, and at 23 is already at #9. Although he has seen patchy form over the past few years with a few injuries along the way, Thiem has, since his early professional career, declared himself as the definitive new force on clay.
Of his 8 career titles, 6 of Thiem’s titles were on clay.
With two back-to-back clay court finals at various levels, Thiem could well find yet another opportunity to prove himself, with both Novak Djokovic and World No 1. Andy Murray struggling on the surface of late. That not only opens up the field but considering how strong Thiem has been on clay, he’ll well defeat them too.
He put up quite the fight against Nadal at the finals of the Mutua Madrid Open, managing to swing control in his own favour on several occasions despite Nadal’s defensive tennis.
Thiem’s groundstrokes are strong, heavy and powerful. And when Dominic Thiem’s forehand is on form, it can break the strongest of defences – including that all-powerful one of Rafael Nadal. Unfortunately, Thiem has been patchy with that forehand, and often ends up sending loopy, uncontrolled shots that seem both misdirected and unaimed. Should he be able to completely hone and round his serve, we have no doubt the player can become a force to reckon with at Roland Garros alone.
Rafael Nadal is unstoppable
We all knew this already, and much before the clay court season began. Already appearing to be in the form – and fitness of his life, Rafael Nadal set up a mammoth final against Roger Federer at the Australian Open and put up quite the fight before eventually going down to Roger Federer.
But now let’s look at his clay season. Already the clay GOAT, Rafael Nadal has firmly cemented his name in history as the sole deserving person of that title, and it’s backed up by the numbers. Nadal first finished his La Decima at the Monte-Carlo Masters – dropping only one set en route to the final, then followed that up with an unassailed showing at the first of his home clay court tournaments at the Barcelona Open.
Nadal would go on to win the Barcelona Open without dropping a set, and railed against Austrian clay-court specialist Dominic Thiem in that final. They would meet again – and soon, and in a final – but they didn’t know that yet.
Here, again, Nadal won his tenth title – and again, it was a record-extending win.
Seeded fourth at the Madrid Masters, Nadal encountered only one tough match – his first one here, against Italy’s Fabio Fognini – someone who has occasionally been quite a thorn in Nadal’s side, and then went on unassailable, without dropping a single set, only to face Dominic Thiem in yet another final.
This time, Thiem put up quite the spirited fight against Nadal, but even in the face of resilient, attacking tennis from Thiem, the Spaniard’s defense was unbreakable.
Going into the Italian Open, where Nadal again already holds the record for seven titles, he will now aim for another record-extending eighth one. If he is not the favourite for this season, then we’re not sure who is.
What is the foot injury that has troubled Rafael Nadal over the years? Check here
