If the continued Australian Open is an indicator, the way forward for tennis is brighter than ever.
A day after 18-year-old Joao Fonseca stunned World No. 9 Andrey Rublev in straight sets, one other teenager, Jakub Mensik, shocked the tennis world with a resounding win over World No. 6 Casper Ruud.
The pair has emulated a uncommon feat final achieved by then-teenagers Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray on the 2006 Wimbledon.
On the podium, Mensik, 19, was reminded of the importance of what he and Fonseca achieved inside 24 hours.
It is somewhat symbolic that Mensik was the one participant who pushed Fonseca to five sets once they met in December’s Subsequent Gen ATP Finals — the occasion that’s the springboard to success on the senior Tour. And now that they’ve notched up career-defining wins at a serious, it is an ominous signal for top-ranked gamers unfamiliar with their video games.
And thoughts you, each kids are realistically positioned to go deeper within the draw. Whereas Fonseca will face unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego within the second spherical, Mensik battles unseeded Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. It should not shock anybody if each make it into the second week in Melbourne.
The rise of Fonseca and Mensik comes at a time when the game is present process a seismic shift of eras. The yr 2024 marked the first in 21 seasons that none of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal captured a serious title, with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner splitting the 4 slams amongst them.
Fonseca and Mensik aren’t the one youngsters making noise on the Australian Open. American Learner Tien, who reached the ultimate of the Subsequent Gen ATP Finals, picked up a formidable first-round win to arrange a conflict with World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev in Thursday’s second spherical. On the ladies’s aspect, too, Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva confirmed flashes of a future celebrity in her first-round win.
Amid the rise of the teenagers, it is simple to overlook that Alcaraz, 21, and Sinner, 23, have but to enter their prime. Once more, the game is in good arms within the wake of Nadal and Federer’s retirements, and Djokovic’s imminent exit.
