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TENNIS-OPEN-AUS-NEXTGEN-FOCUS
Rise of Tsitsipas and Tiafoe — new era or false dawn?
MELBOURNE, Jan 21, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – At the start of every year the talk at
the Australian Open is of the “new kids on the block”, the “NextGen”, the
“young guns”.
And every 12 months as the first Grand Slam heralds a fresh season they
come… and they go.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s stranglehold on the
Norman Brookes Challenge Cup has been interrupted just twice since the Swiss
master first lifted it in Melbourne in 2004.
Marat Safin (2005) and Stan Wawrinka (2014) managed to interlope into the
trio’s private sanctum — and they were 25 and 28 years old respectively at
the time, hardly fresh-faced youths.
But this year seems different.
The simple truth is the big three cannot halt Old Father Time and one day
soon will retire from slugging it out around the world. We may have already
seen the last of stricken Andy Murray.
So when young Stefanos Tsitsipas sent third seed Federer packing Sunday at
the tender age of 20, after giant-killer Frances Tiafoe also reached the last
eight, it seemed the tennis world may at last be shifting on its axis.
– Fed’s not going away –
With Alexander Zverev, 21, seeded to meet top-ranked Djokovic — who he
vanquished at the ATP Tour Finals — in the other half of the draw, there
might just be a fresh name on the honours board come Sunday night.
Trouble is, to do it at least one of them will need to find a way to stop
the raging bull that is Nadal.
Tiafoe — who at the age of 20 had already caused the shock of the first
round in stunning fifth seed Kevin Anderson — registered a second notable
scalp on his 21st birthday.
This time it was against Grigor Dimitrov, now 27, who was nicknamed “Baby
Fed” in his early twenties and himself tipped as the next big thing.
But “Daddy Fed”, Roger himself, is tired of the constant chatter “about a
changing of the guard”.
“I’ve heard that story the last 10 years. From that standpoint, nothing
new there,” Federer said when told that John McEnroe had hailed the double
defending champion’s exit as a “changing of the old guard”.
And the great man signalled that, at the age of 37, he was not going away
by announcing he would play on clay at the French Open this year for the
first time since 2015.
– The next level –
Federer did concede that his young conqueror, the exciting Greek who
appears to have all the gifts, was beginning to establish himself.
“About Stefanos, I think he’s definitely done a really nice job now the
last year and a half,” said the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
“I mean before that, too, obviously. But beating Novak in Toronto, the
likes of Anderson and Zverev, now me here. That’s what you need to do to get
to the next level. He’s doing that.”
The popular Tiafoe plays with a smile on his face, a roar in his voice and
has plenty of admirers too.
“It’s so nice to see somebody new, somebody fresh,” said Dimitrov.
“I mean, everybody in the locker room likes him, everybody is laughing.
He’s going to be amazing. He can only get better from now on, for sure.”
But the Bulgarian, who has not yet fulfilled his own huge potential,
sounded a cautionary note.
“I know how it is to break grounds on those first tournaments, especially
a Slam,” he said.
“He really needs to just stay calm and make sure he follows the right
path.
“I mean, one thing is to do well at one tournament, but another thing to
do it progressively.”
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1006 hrs