Top 5 Predictions for the Rest of the 2016 Tennis Season
The men’s game will continue to be thoroughly dominated by Novak Djokovic.
This is one of the picks that is significantly less bold than others. I don’t see how Djokovic doesn’t dominate the rest of the season. He’s playing significantly better than anybody else right now and I don’t see who rallies enough to become a significant threat.
Yes, I realize that he lost to Jiri Vesely in Monte Carlo. As I will discuss later, I fully expect him to have bad matches occasionally. Read: occasionally. Not often.
The men’s game is in an interesting phase currently. There’s one man at the top and several others at a level beneath him.
As far as up-and-coming players, there are certainly some but not as many as you would hope for. As somebody on an ESPN broadcast (not sure who) aptly pointed out, Djokovic is the second-youngest member of the top 10. He’s going to be 29 in May. Dominic Thiem is 22 and he’s the youngest player in the top 15. Nick Kyrgios is almost 21 and he is ranked 20th. So yes, these players do have potential. But players like Murray and Djokovic were already extremely well-established at around 21 years of age.
Are players like Djokovic or Murray going to come around all the time? No. This is, importantly, a once-in-a-lifetime era of tennis that’s happening now.
Next: 4. End of Drought