So, the next gen are on their way but experience delivers. The graphic on the left was displayed by Amazon during their coverage of Medvedev v Tsitsipas to demonstrate Medvedev’s dominance on hard courts this year. Clearly, Medvedev has had an exceptional year – rising to four in the rankings. The top three of course have been familiar in those positions for years and played less and lost less than their younger challengers. From a percentage win/loss perspective only Djokovic of the top three has a lower percentage win/loss on hard courts than Medvedev and that’s marginal.
It’s been heartening to see the youngsters come through in Shanghai – and when Federer and Djokovic were playing well. The semi finalists are all 23 or under. Clearly, we’re beginning to see a shift but four members of the top 10 are still over 30, with four 23 or under. Learning how to win in a one week best of three tournament is different to winning seven best of five matches over two weeks. It will be interesting to see whether we finally get a younger grand slam winner in 2020!
on court performance 