The Next Generation of Tennis Players Who Have A Bright Future

4) Andrey Rublev (Russia)

Andrey Rublev at the NextGen ATP Finals 2017

I first noticed Rublev during the US Open last year. World No.9 Grigor Dimitrov had been knocked out in the second round of the US Open by a Russian teenager, which immediately caught my attention. I thought it was just a lucky win and he would lose in the next round. But he went till the quarter-finals where he lost to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

I eventually did some research and found out that he had won the junior championship at the French Open in 2014. In July of 2017, he had become just the seventh player to have won a tournament as a lucky loser. He had lost in the qualification rounds but eventually reached the final, beating the defending champion Fabio Fognini in the quarter-finals. He then beat Paulo Lorenzi to win his first ATP Title.

He also reached the NextGen ATP Finals, defeating Denis Shapovalov and Borna Coric on the way. He then lost to Hyeon Chung in the finals.

Andrey Rublev’s game has been often compared with that of a boxer - a quick combination of points. When Rublev defeated David Goffin in the fourth round at the US Open last year, Goffin said: “It was tough for me, because he was playing really fast, left and right.”

Left, right, left, right. Like a boxer.

It’s not hard to know where that mindset comes from though. His father was a professional boxer.

He has a great forehand and a great serve. Rublev can hit 130 mph serves, etc. but is very prone to run out of energy on serve. Once, his serve velocity really dropped the next day after a long match. He also has a sort of ping-pong game, playing mostly from the back of the court and unable to finish the point at the front.

Predicting the future is pretty dangerous but I have pretty high expectations from Rublev that he will definitely be a top-10 player in the future.