“Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev are not progressing in tennis the way their elders did”: Patrick McEnroe »FirstSportz

Former world number 3 in doubles and doubles champion at the 1989 French Open, Patrick McEnroe recently spoke about the new generation of players looking to ride the upcoming sport’s spin. While the dominance of Big-3, the trio of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer Still not fully tested, glimpses are already there.

While Federer has struggled with injuries since 2020, Djokovic and Nadal are still dominating the Slams, splitting five of the last seven Slams contested since 2020. Novak won the Australian Open in in 2020 and 2021 and followed by titles in Paris and Wimbledon in 2021. Rafa won Extended Solution 2020 and was stopped in the semi-finals of his favorite Slam by Novak.

US Open still has different winners with Dominic Thiem win in 2020 and Daniil Medvedev champion in 2021 while Novak is runner-up in New York in 2021 in one of the most dominant tennis seasons. While the new generation is certainly challenging the big stars for titles, McEnroe believes they have yet to draw crowds.

The biggest problem with tennis, if I put in my old USTA limit, is that, let’s be honest, these young people are not progressing in tennis as their elders did. They don’t sell as many tickets in the first week of the US Open as Nadal, Federer and Djokovic,” McEnroe said.

Alexander Zverev ends the 2021 season with the most titles on Tour

While McEnroe has delved into the next generation, of the 8 ATP-1000 Masters tournaments taking place this year, 6 were won by upcoming tennis players with Djokovic winning. Master’s Program in Paris 2021 and Nadal wins Rome Masters Tournaments 2021.

Hubert Hurkacz won in Miami, Stefanos Tsitsipas won the Monte Carlos masters, Alexander Zverev won master’s titles in Madrid and Cincinnati, Medvedev won in Canada while Cameron Norrie won at Indian Wells.

Zverev also won Gold Olympics in Tokyo this year and ATP Finals 2021 beat Djokovic in the semi-finals both times and ended the season with six titles to his name, the highest on both the WTA and ATP Tours.

Also read: “The Next Generation Is Finally Here” Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev break Big-4 dominance in ATP rankings