Is the Next Generation of Men’s Tennis Ready to Take the Mantle At Last?
Following Daniil Medvedev’s 4–6 7–6(2) 6–4 victory in the ATP World Tour Finals (WTF) final on Sunday, the 2020 tennis season is now officially over. It will be no surprise to hear that, much like with everything else, it was a strange one.
For the first time since the second World War there was no Wimbledon. Roger Federer was nowhere to be seen for the last 10 months. Dominic Thiem became the first new men’s Grand Slam champion since Marin Cilic won the 2014 US Open, beating Alex Zverev in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Yet, one thing remained the same. Still the Big Four held the honour of being the only men since 2005 to be positioned as the number one and two players in the world rankings.
Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray are the only men in the last 15 years to be so much as world number two. The only man to come close was Stan Wawrinka, who unofficially held the number two ranking for all of two hours before Nadal beat Thiem in the 2017 French Open semi final to reclaim his spot as second best in the world.
Only Murray, outside of the Big Three, has cracked world number one in this time, which he held onto for 41 weeks between November and August of 2016–2017.
But following the conclusion of this year’s WTF, that stranglehold by the Big Four of those top two spots has never looked shakier. However, the WTF has been a breeding ground for unbridled and misplaced optimism in the last few years.
Since Murray’s first victory there in 2016 there have been new champions every year. Grigor Dimitrov, Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas have all seen false dawns begin with victory at the end of year tournament.
So, why is this year’s optimism for an exciting and different 2021 any less misplaced than previous years?
For one, the final between Medvedev and Thiem saw both players beat Nadal and Djokovic on route to the last WTF match held in London’s O2 Arena.
By beating both the world’s number one and two players, Thiem became only the second player in history, after Murray, to win five times against each member of the Big Three.
For Medvedev, his victory over Thiem in the final meant he became the first player ever to beat the top three players in the world at a WTF event.
These are two landmark achievements that accurately paint the picture of just how impressive they have been at times in 2020. Thiem began the year by winning again against Nadal on his way to his first ever Australian Open final, which he lost in five sets to Djokovic.
While Medvedev took a while to recover his form from late 2019 that saw him burst onto the scene as a top player, he ended 2020 with seven victories over top 10 players and winning two major tournaments in a row.
The 2021 calendar still remains up in the air, but both players should be optimistic about their prospects. Thiem has broken that first big barrier by winning his maiden slam, but there are still questions about his ability to win a slam against the Big Three considering two weren’t there at the US Open this year, and Djokovic was defaulted in the fourth round.
The Austrian has set his sights on breaking into the top two in 2021, but admitted that it is difficult to set any specific targets amidst so much uncertainty surrounding the schedule for the year.
“It was still a very intense year, since the Tour returned [it] was super intense, so I haven’t set myself any goals yet for next year,” he said following his defeat to Medvedev.
“But of course I want to climb up the rankings.
“I mean, this year and also [last] year has been amazing. I was playing great and had deep runs in many, many big tournaments. That’s what I want to do as well next year. If I’m able to do that, I think I will also get chances to climb the rankings.”
For Medvedev this is the biggest title win of his career. He struggled more than Thiem this season, but he has ended it on such a high by winning the WTF and the Paris Masters. It means he has set himself up for a promising 2021 season.
”When you have this sort of confidence, you just need to know how to keep it. And I think I do know how to do it, especially looking back at last year also where I had six finals in a row. So now the question is how to find it faster sometimes,” said Medvedev on Sunday.
Of the three Grand Slams that did take place this year, two of them were still won by Djokovic and Nadal. They remain the best two players in the world, and with a returning Federer in 2021, they will still be the men to beat at Grand Slam level. In a strange year such as 2020, their dominance of the Tour stayed constant, but going into 2021 maybe the dominance they’ve held on this sport for so long may be finally coming to an end.
