ATP Finals: Does NextGen still have to wait in London?

Excitement before the start of the ATP finals in London. Will everything stay the same at the London showdown? The older heroes win at the absolute top events – and the NextGen has to wait?

By Jörg Allmeroth in London

In the wood-panelled conference hall “Herbert Morrison” of London’s Marriott County Hotel, Dominic Thiem had an urgent wish before the first rallies at the ATP World Championships. On their own behalf, but secretly also for many younger tennis professionals, for the teenagers of the NextGen squad.

“It’s high time,” said the Austrian star, “that one of the next generation wins a Grand Slam.” When asked when he expected it, however, the Viennese remained vague: “At some point it must finally be time. Best within the next two years.”

Thiem knows all these questions about the generation change, they have been asked him often and gladly lately. Especially to him, after all, the powerful athlete was the first young player to reach at least one Grand Slam final – this year at the French Open.

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But then he was only the most prominent spectator of the great Rafael-Nadal-Show, in Paris the Spanish matador won and with him once again one of the extraordinary gentlemen, who has shaped the world tennis for one and a half decades as inexorably as irresistibly.

At the end of the 2018 season, and the tour finals in London won’t change that, the results are hardly any different than they were five or ten years ago: When it comes to the most sacred thing in this sport, especially the majors, especially Wimbledon, Roger Federer, Noval Djokovic or Nadal set the tone – and sometimes even before that, in a Big Four or Big Five era, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka (three GS victories each).

Zverev, the 21-year-old Hamburg native, just said in London that it was “fascinating” to serve in an era with Federer and Co.: “But of course it’s also madness how dominant they still are.” Zverev could also speak of the grace of later birth. Unlike other generations, he will spend most of his tour career in an era in which the superstars are already retired.

Federer’s time horizon is unlikely to extend beyond the 2020 season, if at all, including participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. With Nadal’s notorious injury calamities, it is unlikely that he will ever play as long as Federer. Djokovic, however, the comeback player of the season, the undisputed number one again – he could cause the youngsters problems for a little longer.

Then, if he were spared sustained injuries. “This is one of the most incredible things that has ever happened in tennis,” says Thiem about the resurgence of the Serb. A return to the summit, by the way, is also part of the truth that burst some of the dreams and illusions of the younger ones in the tennis caravan.

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer on the top three positions – the pecking order at the very front, in the elite area of men’s tennis, seems to be firmly established, it looks like an image from the noughties. And many seasons after that. Zverev and Thiem are the youngest in the top ten, also both represented at the World Championships. But are they also the first contenders for a Grand Slam title when the period of power of the all and all supreme establishment is over?

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“They will play a crucial role in the tennis future. I’m sure of that,” says Federer, who says everything and nothing with it. Because the final step to Grand Slam fame is the most complicated ever in tennis, a tremendous mental challenge as well. Nothing is guaranteed, nothing despite great potential and huge talent.

Zverev and Thiem have recently grown up in competition for the key roles in tennis tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. The 22-year-old Russian Karen Khachanov, for example, put in an impressive final sprint, in which he also conquered the Masters throne in Paris. In London he even moved up to the position of substitute at the tournament of the season’s best.

20-year-old Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas won the NextGen final in Milan on Saturday evening, but he is believed to be at the World Cup in London in twelve months’ time. The Australian Alex de Minaur, the American Francis Tiafoe and the Spaniard Jaume Munar are also regarded as top candidates for an important role in the leadership of future men’s tennis.

Novak Djokovic commented something true: “It doesn’t matter who started this race first. But who arrives first,” says the Serb, “there can still be many surprises.” Who wouldn’t know better than he himself, the unlikely number 1 of the 2018 season.