Young American Tennis Tracker

And if your putting 22 ad young, what about Kudla at 23?

Wow. Johnson is going to play Ferrer in Vienna Finals (now a 500 event), and Sock to play Berdych in Stockholm finals (250 event).
Both showed amazing fighting spirit and beat some good players!!
This should definitely increase their confidence.

Yes, I wouldn’t put Frantangelo in the mix because at 22 he’s not that young anymore and also he’s not a regular tour player. Vince ran into McDonald the other day and Mac Mac told him he’s going pro. I’m interested to see how his game pans out in pros. There hasn’t been a player who’s played college ball since Johnson who’s done much of anything recently in the pros.

Dan, true – college players haven’t done much. But Isner, Anderson, Johnson (especially Johnson, given he isn’t 6 foot seven inches tall) have shown it’s possible to bridge the gap between college and pro tennis. I’d say Johnson is no ordinary college player because he won his last 72 matches as a college player. He’s a bit of a freak. Other players from college havent matched his rise. Not Klahn. Not JJ. Not Blaz Rola. Not the kid from UCLA who went pro last year. I think Johnson might out-hustle all of them.

To Harold point, I like how Johnson is reaching his career best. It wasn’t long ago that he slipped out of the top 100 after getting inside the top 100 in less than a year on tour, fell down to 150, then did a u turn. No other player rose so fast, fell so fast, and excelled again so quickly. During his comeback to relevance he was losing to Kevin Anderson but had some three setters ( Anderson would go ruthlessly to his backhand wing…warning to all u.s. Pros, a very good atp player will feast on your backhand all day). He finally beat him yesterday and followed it up with a win today.

Having two u.s. Players in European finals is definitely a big step forward. That they are Sock and Johnson is probably no surprise – Sock has a shot at his second ATP title and second this year, Johnson has another crack at his first title (hard to pick against Ferrer, unless Ferrer stubs both big toes or something). Johnson was also playing doubles with Bob Bryan right? Had to help him, Bob is one of the best doubles players in history.

The last u.s. Player to do well this time of the year I think was James Blake, who won the Sweden title in 2005 or 2006. That title set him up for a season where he made the Indian wells finals and then another slam qf in the 2006 us open. Blake and Sock or Blake and Johnson are very different players, as Blake was playing top 15 tennis at that point and did for a good 24 months. He was faster than both players and had a nice way of closing out points…at his best.

But it’s a nice result. Unheard of really and if one of them wins the title tomorrow that will cap a decent year for u.s. Players , even at slams given Kudlas Wimbledon and Isner and DY at this years us open. Not a return to prominence by any stretch, but a good year in comparison to the post Fish era, where Isners tried hard but had no help up until this point.

As for the other guys coming up, they at least have some examples of what players do to get better. Sock has been on the rise since his mixed doubles title as Scoop pointed out and then his Wimbledon doubles trophy. I’d be surprised if any of them pick up on the reality that they need to play all kinds of matches , like Hingis did, to prepare or whether they will just focus on singles and ignore the need for different kinds of match play to keep their games fresh.

Sock and Johnson, AND Fish for that matter all play or played doubles. Serena Williams did too with Venus. And I think Johnsons comeback to the top 50 began with a doubles title in a challenger. I’m a little doubtful generation next will understand the need to get wins wherever they can…even a public park hustling other players.

You never know.

The Italian Paulo Lorenzi has strung in the 20s.

I don’t think you can get too excited about Sock and SteveJo making indoor finals at minor tournaments. This is the hard indoor court surface and both of those guys like that kind of a court. They’re backhands still probably won’t be efficient enough to do well at slams and they’re both a little big without the incredible fitness or ball-striking skills of the guys who beat them today, Berdych and Ferrer, to contend at the top of the game. SteveJo has zero chances of ever making a slam semis and Sock has maybe a 20 per cent chance next year of making slam semis.

Beating Anderson, Simon and Gasquet is nice for SteveJo and Sock, but it’s the end of the season, indoor tennis, against not the best guys until they faced Berdy and Ferrer. I still think Nishikori is the best current player not to win a slam along with Berdych.

Sock just won the doubles with Nick Monroe. I watched the match and kept thinking – who is Nick Monroe? So I went through the old google machine and the third link down after wiki and Atp was tennis-prose and the article ‘How do these guys make a living?’ dated 2013. I read it and was killing myself laughing at the rant Brandon Monroe (brother?) was unleashing. He was not really paying attention to your responses and was just laying into you about everything. Anyways, Sock is a cracking doubles player – seems to have more fun as well.

Not a biggie that Johnson and sock make finals and loose….if they had won – would’ve been better for their confidence..

No one on scoop’s punk list is going to win a slam…very premature to say who will pan out where however smart money would bet on these bozos..

Sock @ 37 and Lorenzo @ 20s is very interesting….almost ‘lacrossing’ the ball..

Sock’s year isn’t that far off Thiem’s three title year. Sock was in two finals and in Berdych he played a tougher opponent in the final than Thiem did in his three finals.

Also won the doubles in Stockholm. Sorry but it matters, I think Sock gets his practice through doubles, he wont have any regrets losing to Berdych and then winning the doubles.

And Johnson beat good players to make the Vienna final and lost by not much to Ferrer. Take Ferrers word not mine, said Johnson played great.

Anyways I take no stock in my predictions. I just know that making an ATP final is something other ATP players respect. And they should. Who cares if Johnson likes playing indoors. He’s a good outdoors player too. We’ve underestimated Johnson.

Yws, Rob we had an interesting exchange with Nick Monroe’s brother a couple of years back. He took umbrage in the piece about how some of these lesser known doubles players like Monroe make a living on the tour. And Nick Monroe is amazing, that dude plays a tournament somewhere in the US every week practically and often with a different partner. But he seems like a good guy, always in the stand supporting Sock or another partner who also plays singles.

It’s funny how the Tennis World turns. I remember like close to ten years ago when I saw Monroe play for the first time, it was the Qualis of the US Open and he had his own little cheering squad supporting him wearing Nick Monroe t-shirts, and I’m like, “Who is this dude?” I’d never heard of him and here was this little black dude, with the surname of one of my favorite basketball players, Earl Monroe, playing an aggressive super-hustling style of game. But he was never good enough to qualify at the Open.

Some players are going to find a way to make a living in tennis and Nick Monroe has done better than most. He’s 62 in the doubles ranking and he;s 33 I think so he’s been out there for a while and I bet you he’s a dude who we might see out there playing into his late 30’s or beyond. Nick Monroe is like the Mike Russell of doubles.

“If Vasek Pops. isn’t available that week, [Nicholas Monroe] is usually the first guy I call.” – Jack Sock

Don’t think one-trick ponies CANT make slam quarters, just that they don’t do it that often. Last 8 guys in the tournament.

I’m not sure if today Ginepri would make the kind of run he made at the US Open in 2005. Ginepri’s the last non-Roddick, non-Agassi U.S. player to make a slam semifinal, and at the time he was training like a champ with Jose Higueras as coach. He also had a very good backhand and a complete game overall.

Sock might have a QF or better in him. His serve is huge – Roddick rode his huge serve to glory and neither Blake nor Fish can be put in the same sentence as Roddick for slam performance.

Sock will prove whether he can or can’t. He’s not tracking badly for making a slam quarterfinal compared to the most recent tier of past U.S. players. Outside of Roddick, only Ginepri made it to a slam quarterfinal before age 25.

– Roddick had his 1st slam quarters at age 18.
– Blake made his 1st slam quarters at age 25.
– Fish made his 1st slam quarters at age 25.
– Ginepri made his slam semifinal at age 22.
– Isner made his slam quarters at age 26.

There’s no way as hard as Sock hits he strings his sticks at 37. Who got that info?

Taylor Fritz could be the hottest US prospect ahead of Tiafoe. This is the kid who served a 143 mph heater at the US Open boy’s tournament.

And I saw Blake lose a lot with the hit it as hard as possible strategy, losing to a lot of players he would have beaten by being a little more discerning.

Again, no coincidence. Blake couldn’t differentiate between the right shot he needed to hit at any moment and he’d lose a lot of games he should have won. That’s the mark of the best players. Blake rose to #4 but then he slipped behind Roddick and then behind Fish. When Blake made his announcement in what, early 2010? that he would “sit out” Davis Cup with Roddick, his ranking had dipped to the 40s and he was already being replaced for Davis Cup.

Andrew – don’t be a bozo-lover…..only bozos like bozos…..none of them will be in a second week of a GS (not even in the 5 year plan)