Sascha Zverev, Nick Kyrgios, Dominic Thiem to name a few. They are rising stars at the ages you talked about but expecting them to win slams at this age doesn't make sense because the sport has CHANGED dramatically since Chang and Samparas and Becker won as teens. The game is way more physically and mentally demanding now.
Not sure about now but the young Maria Sharapova was "owned" by a corporation. The corporation paid to bring her over from Russia, gave her the best training that money could buy and paid all her living and tour expenses.
Well it looks like Nadal is back to being the King of Clay. He's putting absolute beatdowns on guys. Amazing how first Federer and now Nadal have re-invigorated their games. Hope it's a good match tomorrow. I think Wawrinka will have to bring all of his massive power to stay in it, He's done it before in finals but I do think Nadal will prevail as his court coverage is too good right now.
I love the fact Nadal passed Pete .. Nadal has playet a lot of tennis so far this year ... His body may not be able to handle it ..
Good point (no pun intended
). Actually read a piece the other day in which Nadal stated Wimbledon often gives him problems with his knees because of the lower bounces. Don't imagine the workload he's had this year is going to help that. No. He's pulled out of an exhibition match at Hurlingham (UK) not Wimbledon!
Rafa just might do that - he's had a tremendous clay court season and was unstoppable at the French. However Roger has also been enjoying an incredible year (except for hiccup in Stuttgart) and has just as good a chance to get to #1 by the Rogers Cup.
The draw in Wimbledon does not look that bad for Federer. If he wins this Wimbledon, the rest of the season would be a tussle for number 1 between Roger & Rafa. Since the rest of the year is on hard courts, it would benefit Roger.
Unlikely as Federer will continue to be highly selective with the tournaments he enters. Let's also see whether Nadal's knees stand up to the stress of playing on hard courts and grass. I think it's quite likely he will have periods of fitness problems second half of the year.
