5 things we learned from the French Open 2017: Lesson 1

So dear tennis fans, you semi-postponed your life for a whole 2 weeks to immerse yourselves fully in what we know is one of the four most important events of the year. Personal hygiene and social life may have suffered but was it was worth it? Well, perhaps your answer depends partially on which players you were supporting but I assure you that whether you were happy with the results or not this tournament was an eye opener on many levels. With Wimbledon just around the corner, over the next few days I am going to roundup the 5 main knowledge nuggets we can extract from the French Open 2017 and, more importantly, what they mean heading into the grass courts:

Lesson #1
The changing of the guard is coming…

Tennis is a sport always looking to the future, even if sometimes prematurely. My first recollection of hearing about the impending ‘changing of the guard’ was probably in 2012 into 13. It was a year in which BBC commentators seemed to talk about nothing but the inevitable fall of the big 4: their question being when it would happen and which young players would be at the receiving end of the handover. The answer at the time (on the ATP tour at least) seemed to be names like Raonic, Dimitrov and Nishikori with which we are now very familiar. No doubt these players have made in-roads since but, realistically, are yet to win a grand slam which is probably necessary to declare that any guard has changed. By 2015 the name Kyrgios was batted about in similar fashion, as was Dominic Thiem and even more recently the likes of Zverev and Tiafoe. In fact, the phrase ‘#nextgen’ has been ringing in my ears all of 2017. There is even going to be the first ‘next gen finals’ in Milan later this year to rival the legendary ATP World Tour finals currently based in London. However, for the first time following this clay season it is genuinely beginning to feel like the changing of the guard is getting even marginally close. Rafael Nadal was almost unbeatable this clay court season. The fact he accomplished La Decima without even donating 1 set further emphasises how impressive this was. Yet lest we forget Dominic Thiems’ Rome quarterfinal victory. Or, for that matter, his straight set dismissal of Djokovic at Roland Garros. Talking of Djokovic, he has also suffered defeats from the 20 year old Zverev in the Rome final and twice from unpredictable Kyrgios. Not to mention Borna Coric’s triumph over world number 1 Andy Murray. As for the WTA tour, we only have to look at the French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko to see the potential of youth in tennis. She turned 20 on the day of the semi-final! Yeah, she really was only 19 for the majority of the tournament.

Going into the grass court season and, more specifically, Wimbledon, what does this really tell us? (Give me betting tips I here you cry!!) Honestly, there is no way of knowing for sure. On the men’s tour it seems unlikely that we should put any of the ‘next gens’ as real favourites for the title but there may be some surprising upsets on the way. Much of the eventual realisation of the changing of the guard might depend not just on the ability of young players to gain consistency from week to week and between different court surfaces but also on the form of the top 4 and the confidence their failings could give to the up and comers. After all, they cannot play forever. I will talk more about the current form of the top guys tomorrow and what this may mean for the game in the near future. As for Ostapenko, she should in theory have a good grass court game. Her task will be dealing with the pressure of expectation and media attention (particularly in Latvia) that will be hurled at her over the next 3 weeks.

Well that’s enough for now folks but check back tomorrow for number 2 and maybe even 3!!