Jared Donaldson is one of a sizeable group of Americans trying to become a permanent fixture inside the Top 100. The likes of Donaldson, Frances Tiafoe, Bjorn Fratangelo, Tommy Paul, Reilly Opelka Noah Rubin, and Dennis Novikov have all, for various reasons, largely failed to translate promising junior potential into Top 100 calibre play.
Now twenty years old, this is arguably the make or break season for Jared Donaldson. A promising junior who trained in Argentina and was invited to join Roger Federer for pre-season training a couple of seasons ago, it is time for him to step up. By this I mean if he has aspirations of figuring consistently somewhere inside the Top 30 for much of his career. He does not necessarily need to end 2017 that highly in 2017, but certainly needs to move into the Top 100 by the end of the year. This season is likely to be one where a massive change occurs in the Top 100, with a number of veterans potentially being forced further down the rankings by the new blood.
The likes of Mikhail Youzhny, Philipp Kohlschreiber, David Ferrer, Jeremy Chardy, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles Muller, Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon, Marcos Baghdatis, Marcel Granollers, Nicolas Mahut, and Paolo Lorenzi, might struggle as the grind of the tour that these veterans have endured for so many years may finally catch up with them as a young, fresh crowd of players emerges.
An early defeat for David Ferrer to Jordan Thompson might suggest a further decline for a player whose 2016 season represented his worst for years. Richard Gasquet struggled in the second half of 2016, and was overwhelmed by Kyle Edmund in the US Open. His compatriot Gilles Simon fell to the next generation of French talent Lucas Pouille in Brisbane, again a first round exit.
To suggests that such established names might struggle is a big call, and warrants names in return that might force the change. Some evidence already exists, with the successes of players including Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Taylor Fritz, Nick Kyrgios, and Kyle Edmund already well established.
The supporting cast for 2017 looks stronger than ever, with Denis Shapovalov, Casper Ruud, Alex De Minaur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Hyeon Chung, Stefan Kozlov, Mikael Ymer, Elias Ymer, Michael Mmoh, and Duckhee Lee all looking like strong candidates to improve dramatically over the coming twelve months.
It remains to be seen if any of them actually do make the Top 100 this season, but there are promising signs, with De Minaur storming his way through Brisbane qualifying, knocking out Mikhail Kukushkin in impressive fashion.
The point here for Jared Donaldson is that, at twenty, he is older than most of the young names mentioned as up-and-coming. Some of those characters are still figuring out their games or developing physically from a junior player into a professional athlete. At twenty, Donaldson should know his game and certainly should have developed physically to the point where he can compete strongly.
His early 2017 results (based only on the single tournament) are promising, qualifying for Brisbane before knocking out Gilles Muller, and giving Kei Nishikori a tough match in the second round. Despite the promise Donaldson has a reputation for inconsistency, and problems with his second serve have marred his career to date. Yet, if he can maintain this early season form and, with the additional ranking points from the strong performance, he might just earn direct entry into the Australian Open.
A big year for Donaldson, a big year for men’s tennis.
