Anyone who wins a major among the juniors has no guarantee that they will also succeed among the adults. Conversely, it didn’t hurt Jannik Sinner that he never competed in a junior Grand Slam.
by Jens Huiber
last edited: January 29, 2024, 8:31 p.m
Jannik Sinner and Daniil Medvedev didn’t win a major as juniors – but they did as adults
We only wish the best for Rei Sakamoto. Health anyway – but also many successes in men’s tennis, ideally even triumphs at the Grand Slam events. What Sakamoto, who won the junior title at the Australian Open a few days ago, should have no illusions about: that his victory in Melbourne will necessarily lead to major championships in real tennis life. Because the truth is on the court. And that says: It’s difficult.
Now one can object: Roger Federer won both the junior singles and doubles at Wimbledon in 1998. And after that things continued pretty well for the maestro, who also finished that year as the best youngster in the world. But if you look at Federer’s successors as young Wimbledon champs, then Gael Monfils (winner in 2004) had a strong career. And Jürgen Melzer (1999) and Nicolas Mahut (2000) have at least succeeded in doubles at a major several times.
Sinner was never there for the juniors
If you look at the current Australian Open, of the four semi-finalists, only Novak Djokovic has reached the junior finals once. Carlos Alcaraz reached the quarterfinals once, Daniil Medvedev didn’t even make it there. And Jannik Sinner has never even tried his hand at the youth competition.
Alexander Zverev came closest to a major victory in the 2020 US Open final against Dominic Thiem. Zverev triumphed in the juniors in Melbourne in 2016 – four and a half years later he gave up a 2-0 set lead in the final. Grigor Dimitrov won two Grand Slam tournaments as a junior but is still waiting for his first final as an adult. And so forth.
This works a little better for women, as a look at Wimbledon alone shows: Ashleigh Barty (winner in 2011), Jelena Ostapenko (2014) and Iga Swiatek (2018) have also made it far on the WTA tour. In the case of Barty and Swiatek, they reached position one in the world rankings – alongside the title in the majors.
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Djokovic Novak Medvedev Daniil Sinner Jannik
2024-01-30 13:13:24
#major #titles #among #juniors #overrated
