The Future of Tennis

With Federer and Nadal still battling for the Number 1 spot in the world, it got me thinking, are they still just too good for everyone else or is the rest of the playing field not dominant enough?? After listening and reviewing the French Open for a week now, I have been wondering if the rest of the playing field can even win a major. We are so close to seeing someone new winning a major. Them finally made his first Grand Slam Final. Zverev has been on a role by putting on a display of phenomenal tennis at ATP Master 1000 events. But when it comes to majors, both of them have yet to find the fighting spirit to win. At one point during the final,Thiem was close to taking a 5-4 lead in the first but then Nadal demoralized him through drop shots and aggressive play. After that point, Thiem looked like he knew he was going to lose. Is this the type of generation that we we want to watch? Now, we always compare the young guns to some of the greats. But most of the greats that we usually refer too are ones that retire, right? Instead, we are still comparing Zverev and, Dimitrov, Thiem and others like them to Roger or Rafa. The young guns have established their identities really well don’t get me wrong. Thiem and Zverevs backhand are insanely good. Dimitrov is an all around a great player. Even Jack Sock has been able to break through from time to time in order to stay in the Top 20. The last 6 majors have all been won by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Both men are in their 30’s and Roger has even taken 3 months off the past 2 years to recover his body. Yet, both of them are so far ahead of both of the rest that the next generation of great players are going to have to win when both of these players are retired. In my opinion, the men’s game will become like the women’s tour when Roger and Rafa retire. There won’t be a dominant player and it would be a guessing game when it comes to who can win the next major.