Last year, at this time, no one would have predicted that, weeks later, Hubert Hurkacz would be champion of Masters 1000. They probably wouldn’t have done the same thing either. Cameron Norrie. Or with Taylor Fritz, for example. The reality is that the male circuit, without the Big Three in its entirety, it will never again enjoy an era of monopoly as absolute and reserved as the one it experienced under the reign of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. If in the Grand Slams, due to their special nature, the relay is still a pending issue, the “earthly” aura of the tournaments of the category of Miami Open 2022, with three sets that give the favorites a smaller margin of error, allows players from the second row of the ranking to pick up their piece of the cake. And the tournament ahead of us in Florida is no different.
There are three names that, within the Next Gen, they distanced themselves relatively quickly from the rest of their peers. Some did it at a younger age; others developed their faculties somewhat later, without this meaning a lower level. Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas they came to create a narrative (supported by Zverev himself, although this is not surprising) that they were the “próximo Big Three”. While Djokovic and Nadal kept reaching finals (“The Next Gen is us”; Novak’s speech after the Rome 2021 final will remain unforgettable), it is true that Russian, German and Greek perfectly played the role of heirs to the throne, of those destined to succeed them. But we arrive at 2022… and Rafa returns devastatingly while our trio of heirs is plunged into problems of different magnitude.
The most winning and the most champion, the only one to burst the insurmountable door of the gatekeepers, makes us see with a certain periodicity that he is human and not extraterrestrial. That he is not yet able to chain the final week in and week out, something that the three great Martians made routine. Daniil Medvedev arrives in Miami as the top favorite, having been the number one for three weeks… and yet the vulnerability he conveyed on the slow tracks of Indian Wells made us think that his position at the top doesn’t make him a guarantee of success. Yes, he still has a lot to learn Russian to adapt his game to what conditions: he is the favorite, but he is far from preventing the cake from being left open to the second row.
The case of Zverev and Tsitsipas is something different. Its life cycle in recent years is that of get excited about game stretches at the highest level… to fall, shortly after, in a new losing streak which makes us see that we are still not convinced. Are they still favourites? Of course. But while one of them tries changes of coach, plays technical keys (cut backhand) and moves away from any certainty regarding his quick intervention to heal his elbow, the other self-sabotages with actions of questionable sportsmanshipmoments that make him an easy target in the eyes of the world and that add one more concern to a fragile confidence in the moments that truly define a tennis player.
AND THE REST?
And, of course, we arrived in Miami thinking that we could once again see a second-tier player win such a title. Impossible to rule out the dazzling appearance of Carlos Alcaraz, the guy who in just a few months has shown his cards in such a way that he is beginning to be considered a winning horse (despite having only gone to a few truly great races). Nor would we be surprised if the enviable consistency of names like Andrey Rublev O Matteo Berrettini, guys who have already reached the end of Masters 1000, ends up paying off and finally allows them to eat at the table of the knights who aspire to be kings. Other princes of youth, with flashes of brilliance and slow cooking, are also emerging as candidates (hello Felix Auger Aliassimehello Jannik Sinner). And, of course, impossible to forget the safe values of a circuit that they know perfectly well, guys capable of beating the biggest but who, due to various circumstances, have a more limited ceiling at the ranking level (John Isner, Roberto Bautista, Gaël Monfils).
Tennis returns without the Big Three and does so with an exciting tournament. Thousands of narratives to create at a table where everyone wants to stick their sword. We don’t know who will unsheathe it first… but we do know that the competition will be fierce. And prepare to be surprised. we’ve gotten used to it.
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