In the competitive world of professional tennis much focus is applied to the ATP Tour and the Masters, 500s and 250s that regularly see the top players compete. This article focuses on the next rung of professional tennis, in the Challengers and profiles four young stars looking likely to earn a place amongst the tennis elite.
1. Casper Ruud: A seventeen year old Norwegian, Ruud hails from a tennis background. His father Christian Ruud was the 1995 Bastaad Open runner-up and a former Top 50 player. Ruud has the potential to eclipse his father’s impressive exploits. Already representing Norway in Davis Cup action, Ruud has seen much of his early success on clay, winning two clay Futures titles (d. Taberner, d. Torpegaard). In September Ruud stepped up to the Challenger circuit, making his debut in Seville. Forced to qualify, Ruud then battled past a number of experienced clay specialists including members or former members of the Top 100 (d. Martin, d. Cervantes, d. Daniel). The come-back win over Cervantes in particular, a five time winner of clay Challengers, proved that Ruud has the ability to compete even at his young age. To put his run in perspective, only three men have successfully won the title on their Challenger debut at a younger age. Ruud joins a unique group that includes former Top 10 star and 2015 Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet and Michael Chang. Right handed, with a two-handed backhand, Ruud make his ATP Tour debut in Chengdu as a wildcard, going down to Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-7. Despite the loss, it would not be a surprise to see Ruud appear in the Roland Garros main draw next year, either as a direct entry or as a wildcard.
2. Mackenzie McDonald: Typically in these posts, a player aged twenty-one does not normally meet my criteria as a young star in the current climate. McDonald however deserves an exception. Like a number of Top ATP stars including John McEnroe and current active Top 100 stars Kevin Anderson, John Isner, and Steve Johnson, McDonald elected to go to college before turning professional. As a result, he only played selectively as tournaments clashed with his schedule at UCLA. Despite this, his talent still occasionally shone through. In 2013, as a Qualifying draw entrant at the Cincinnati Masters, McDonald defeated Nicolas Mahut and Steve Johnson. He had dropped the opening set in each match. He was beaten in the first round of the main draw by David Goffin. McDonald’s success continued in college, and this year he won both the singles and doubles titles in the NCAA. The winner of the NCAA Singles in particular has a successful record of turning professional, with recent winners including Steve Johnson (2011, 2012), Blaz Rola (2013) forging successful careers after winning the title. McDonald elected to turn professional after winning the title, delaying his final year at UCLA. The benefits of more consistent high-level tournament play have seen a marked improvement in his results. After a five-set defeat in his US Open debut (l. to Satral), consecutive Challenger semi-final appearances in Tiburon and Stockton, including victories over former Top 100 players Tim Smyczek and Denis Kudla, as well as current Top 100 member Frances Tiafoe, McDonald can be considered a force to be reckoned with.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBUeJN2HzYU
Highlights of McDonald’s win over Frances Tiafoe in Tiburon.
3. Michael Mmoh: Mmoh is the second American to feature on this list and for a good reason. The eighteen year-old has joined McDonald in making a big step up in his Challenger results this autumn. A hitting partner for Frances Tiafoe in their respective junior careers, Mmoh has shown in the last few months that he has the game to emulate and challenge his friend in the coming years. Mmoh qualified for his first ATP tournament in Memphis (d. Fratangelo, d. Novikov, l. to Fritz). He then won a close encounter with fellow youngster Casper Ruud in a Futures final before being handed a wildcard entry to the Miami Masters, where he lost 7-6, 7-6 to Alexander Zverev. His year then faltered, at one stage losing seven straight matches including his US Open debut (l. to Chardy). His year has picked up though, qualifying for and reaching the final of the Tiburon Challenger (d. Shapovalov, d. Kozlov, d. Fratangelo, d. Smyczek, l. to King). He followed this up with a strong showing in Stockton (d. Gonzalez, d. Caruso, d. King, l. to Rubin). Mmoh needs to add consistency to his game but has shown the character to emerge from the losing streak over the summer to a level where he is genuinely competing for Challenger titles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LE4qkS7CA8
Highlights of Mmoh’s win over another young talent Denis Shapovalov.
4. Stefanos Tsitsipas: At eighteen years-old, Tsitsipas, like Casper Ruud, has shown an aptitude for clay. The young Greek has made giant strides in his performances since the US Open, culminating in a final showing in Mohammedia last week (d. Ramirez Hidalgo, d. Gimeno-Traver, l. to Melzer.) That moved his ranking up seventy-two places to no.241, and with a minimum quarter-final showing this week in Casablanca he could rise higher, indeed he could break the Top 200 with a title win. His recent success on the Challenger circuit replicates his form at junior and Futures levels. Tsitsipas has succeeded at every level he has played at so far. He had minimum quarter-final showings at every Junior Grand Slam, (best SF in Wimbledon and US Open), and has won five futures titles. His success at Challenger level has taken a little longer to produce but now in form and adapting to the higher level, the 6’4 right-hander has every chance and expectation of moving on to even better things.
