Tennis: young people playing at Indian Wells

2021 will have been the year of youth in tennis. If we evoked a change of guard at the end of the United States Open, won in men by Daniil Medvedev, this will be all the more true in Indian Wells, since neither Novak Djokovic, nor Rafael Nadal, nor Roger Federer there. will be.

• Read also: A long road to the final for Leylah Fernandez

On the women’s side, the US Open will of course have been the story of Briton Emma Raducanu, champion at 18, and Quebecer Leylah Fernandez, finalist at 19.

From the top of his 21 years, Félix Auger-Aliassime was he impressed, even inspired by these unexpected performances from players younger than him?

“It’s difficult to compare the two circuits,” said the semi-finalist in New York on Thursday. [Ce qu’elles ont fait], it is equivalent to Daniil who wins the tournament [à 25 ans], because they are two different pools of players. “

“But from a personal point of view, yes, I thought it was great to see new faces, nice young players,” he added.

New headliners

In the Californian desert, for the last major tournament of the season, the Quebecer could meet on his way some of the young wolves who are in the process of establishing themselves as the new masters of ATP.

But he will first have to overcome the Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 33 years old and 48^e world, in the second round on Sunday. By virtue of his status as the seventh seed, Felix was granted a pass for the initial round.

The road to the final may then be more complex. Because if the 11^e world reaches the quarter-finals and that the logic of the tournament is respected, he could face off against the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas (2^e seed), to the German Alexander Zverev (3^e favorite) and Russian Medvedev (1st), who drily kicked him out of New York almost a month ago.

All Canadian duel

While awaiting the entry on the scene of Felix, Sunday, Denis Shapovalov (9^e) and Vasek Pospisil will engage in an all-Canadian duel on Saturday.

Shapovalov et Pospisil (68^e world) have already faced each other three times on ATP. The first leads 2 to 1 in the confrontations. The 22-year-old won in two sets against the 31-year-old veteran in Qatar at the start of the season.