All that talk about Todd Reid earlier got me thinking - how many missed opportunities are there in tennis?
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I mean, Todd Reid is only 24, but if you haven't made it by that age, then you're pretty much not going to, right? The only genuine late bloomer I remember is Ljubicic, and even then, I think he'd bloomed a bit earlier than this, so to speak. But Todd Reid was the #4 junior in the world back in the day, which, when you think about it, was not that long ago - 2002, I think, for him. That was just before the golden age of Federer began, but not that long before it. So just a few years ago, Todd Reid was seemingly going to be one of the tennis stars of his generation. Two junior Slam finals, one victory. A promising start in the first round of the Aussie Open against Nicholas Escude. And where is he now? Just scraping past sixteen year old Bernard Tomic in some schlep tournament in Perth.
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Largely, if you win a junior Slam, you go on to do a bit of something at the senior level. Roger Federer won junior Wimbledon. David Nalbandian was his junior nemesis, and he picked up a title or two. Andy Murray won the junior US Open. Stan Wawrinka won the junior Roland Garros. Names we think about now. Actually, let's go and look at who won the junior Slams in '02, the year of Todd Reid...
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...the Aussie Open was won by someone called Clement Morel, of whom I have never heard (anyone?) but the French and the US were both won by someone called Richard Gasquet. Heard of him?
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So what does this prove? I suppose one always has to assume that a good juniors career doesn't mean a great senior's career - I guess some people just burn out young, or plateau and stop improving while everyone else around them gets better. Maybe some never adjust to the pressure of the senior tour. But how different could the face of tennis be? Looking at the lists of those who have won in juniors but never translated it into the proper tour is like looking at a tennis graveyard - a litany of missed opportunity.
*
I mean, Todd Reid is only 24, but if you haven't made it by that age, then you're pretty much not going to, right? The only genuine late bloomer I remember is Ljubicic, and even then, I think he'd bloomed a bit earlier than this, so to speak. But Todd Reid was the #4 junior in the world back in the day, which, when you think about it, was not that long ago - 2002, I think, for him. That was just before the golden age of Federer began, but not that long before it. So just a few years ago, Todd Reid was seemingly going to be one of the tennis stars of his generation. Two junior Slam finals, one victory. A promising start in the first round of the Aussie Open against Nicholas Escude. And where is he now? Just scraping past sixteen year old Bernard Tomic in some schlep tournament in Perth.
*
Largely, if you win a junior Slam, you go on to do a bit of something at the senior level. Roger Federer won junior Wimbledon. David Nalbandian was his junior nemesis, and he picked up a title or two. Andy Murray won the junior US Open. Stan Wawrinka won the junior Roland Garros. Names we think about now. Actually, let's go and look at who won the junior Slams in '02, the year of Todd Reid...
*
...the Aussie Open was won by someone called Clement Morel, of whom I have never heard (anyone?) but the French and the US were both won by someone called Richard Gasquet. Heard of him?
*
So what does this prove? I suppose one always has to assume that a good juniors career doesn't mean a great senior's career - I guess some people just burn out young, or plateau and stop improving while everyone else around them gets better. Maybe some never adjust to the pressure of the senior tour. But how different could the face of tennis be? Looking at the lists of those who have won in juniors but never translated it into the proper tour is like looking at a tennis graveyard - a litany of missed opportunity.
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