The future of men’s tennis isn’t perfect, but it’s still the future

Dominic Thiem’s US Open victory will go down as the beginning of a new era. It wasn’t the prettiest showing, but it’s still the future of tennis.

Yesterday’s match wasn’t pretty, from a tennis standpoint. Despite everything, Dominic Thiem emerged as the ATP’s US Open Champion over Alexander Zverev after fighting back from two sets and a break down. After falling behind 6-2, 6-4 in under an hour and a half, Thiem was able to rebound and swig the match in his favor, aided by Zverev’s struggles on serve and by his own gain of control from the baseline (something Zverev had going throughout the first two sets).

It was a scrappy match and there’s no denying that fact. Both players finished with more unforced errors than winners (52 and 65 for Zverev, 43 and 55 for Theim) and also ended with a 1:1 ratio of aces and double faults (15:15 for Zverev, 8:8 for Thiem).

What was abundantly clear is that these two players aren’t perfect. Far from it, actually. Tennis fans have been so accustomed to seeing flawless, winner-filled Big 3 tennis. Take Wimbledon 2019 for example, the last time two members of the Big 3 faced off against one another in a major final. Novak Djokovic only finished with a +2 Winner:UFE ratio despite winning the title (54:52). On the other hand, Roger Federer pounded 94 winners to 62 UFE (an incredible +32). Keep in mind, this match finished 13-12 in the fifth set.

We’ll use one more example and a more tame one at that. The most similar Big 3 match in recent years to yesterday’s bout between Thiem and Zverev is the 2017 Australian Open Final, where Federer famously claimed the title over Rafael Nadal in the fifth set. Federer finished with a +17 Winner:UFE ratio (73:57); Nadal wasn’t too far behind with 35:28.

I admit, both Thiem and Zverev looked terrible at their own respective points in the match. Thiem looked hopelessly flat through two sets and Zverev was utterly defeated on his serve towards the end, so much so that his second serves dipped as low as 69 MPH. This is completely understandable. Tennis fans have become numb to the outstanding play of the Big 3 and simply need to realize that we can’t compare anyone to them.

Each generation has a crop of players above the rest. As for now, Thiem, Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas makes up that crop. It’s also a reasonable possibility to claim that they might not reach their full potential until later in their careers due to the Big 3 likely not completely retiring for another 5 years.

Whatever the case may be, they’re the future. As they begin to consistently make major finals in the coming years, they’ll become more comfortable in the moment and blossom from young potential into the superstar level we can see them reach.

It’s going to be an out-of-body experience. There soon won’t be the constant hard-court screeches of Djokovic’s shoes to worry about. The same goes for Nadal’s bullwhip forehands and grunts, as well as the gracefulness of Federer’s footwork on grass as he loads for one of his countless winners.

Growing pains are real. Zverev’s serve will still be what it is for a while. Thiem will still return from the upper deck. Medvedev won’t stop giving out snarky comments like he’s Oprah Winfrey, and Tsitsipas won’t come anywhere close to stopping his Twitter philosophy lessons. Tennis will still be at an incredibly high level. The new era of the ATP is upon us and we’re all strapped into our seats for the ride. Welcome to NextGen.