DO THE BIG 3 HAVE WORTHY SUCCESSORS?

The Tennis World has been dominated by three players exclusively. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Andy Murray could be added to the conversation as well but to a lesser degree, while Stan Wawrinka is even more far away, even though he was one of the few to oppose this trio from 2013-2016. Now that father time is catching up to them, mainly Federer and Nadal, much has been discussed about their most likely successors. Zverev, Tsitsipas, Thiem and Medvedev are part of that shortlist. But will they even come close to the heights the Big 3 accomplished throughout their career? It’s not an impossible task, but a very tough one to achieve. By the time they were 22 or 23, they already had multiple slams and were completely dominating the tour, something that’s not happening with the younger generation, as they are finding it hard to break that shell. But Tennis aside, does their attitude resemble the Big 3 back in the day? We live in a different era, where social media has completely taken over the World, and every little action is analyzed to detail, leaving less room for the youngsters to screw up. But even so, the growth in maturity both on and off the court seems to take longer these days. The ATP Cup is the perfect example of that. On a year that was supposed to be of assertion by the NextGen, it looks like they’re going backwards.



1. ALEXANDER ZVEREV

The first incident happened with Alexander Zverev. The German has been dealing with a lot of trouble when it comes to his service, as the number of double faults’ been skyrocketing since the last months of the previous season. A problem that seems to have persisted into 2020. He accounted for 31 double faults in 3 matches, losing all 3, leading Germany to an early exit at the ATP Cup. In a moment of frustration against Stefanos Tsitsipas, he exchanged heated words with his father and coach, who was sitting on the bench due to the new ATP Cup rules. Alexander Zverev Sr. was filmed later on almost crying due to what was happening in the match, as his son looked frustrated with the way things were going. Winner of a Nitto ATP Finals and 3 Masters 1000, the 22-year-old already has enough experience to keep his calm when things aren’t going his way, but it seems he’s not learned the lesson yet, an indication that his mental part of the game could be the only thing keeping him from start winning Grand Slam titles.

Tsitsipas beats Zverev 6-1, 6-4 and to be honest he’s just a way better player at the moment. More secure, more options, more confidence.



As for Zverev, wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve reached boiling point in terms of his team set-up and his double-faulting. It’s tough to watch. pic.twitter.com/zleljXCJWI — The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) January 5, 2020

2. STEFANOS TSITSIPAS

The second incident belonged to Stefanos Tsitsipas. It looked like after seeing his peer Zverev produce a despicable show, he didn’t want to stay in the shadows as well. In his game against Nick Kyrgios, who’s having an exemplary behaviour from all these players surprisingly, in a moment of anger near his bench, he swiped his racket multiple times, with a piece from there hitting his father, unfortunately. Although Stefanos didn’t have any intention of hurting and hitting his dad, there was something from the racket that jumped to Apostolos Tsitsipas, leaving him bleeding from the arm. He received a penalty point from his action and a rebuke from his mother later on.

It was absolutely... crazy.



Apostolos is actually bleeding.



Mama Tsitsipas super upset. https://t.co/3yDebaH0sK — José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 7, 2020

3. DANIIL MEDVEDEV

The third incident took place in the match between Diego Schwartzman and Daniil Medvedev. The Russian is known for being a hothead, and that showed during his latest US Open tenure, as he constantly teased the audience (the US Open crowd is not an easy one, let’s give that to Medvedev). Due to a verbal altercation between Diego and Daniil at the end of the 1st set, the 23-year-old approached the umpire Mohamed Lahyani to clear if he had been admonished for the incident, but things quickly escalated with no apparent reason. Medvedev struck his racket on the umpire’s chair, while the audience started to boo him, hitting it for the 2nd time seconds after. He was handed a penalty point right after, with the match resuming later on. Daniil’s one of the most promising players on Tour, as he has established himself already as one of the best contenders to dethrone the Big 3, but still has a long way to go about his posture on the court.