ATP: The five climbers of 2020
No, we no longer want to include Jannik Sinner in this category. But from the almost inexhaustible Italian talent pool, the next exciting player is already coming.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Dec 07, 2020, 11:52 pm
# 1: Carlos Alcaraz, Spain: Jump from 490 to 141st place
Carlos Alcaraz's 2020 tennis year began in Spain and ended there. But what the 17-year-old achieved between his opening win against Mattia Bellucci at the ITF 15,000 event in Manacor and the defeat against Lorenzo Giustino at the Challenger in marbella was worth all honors. Outstanding are the three Challenger victories in Alicante, Barcelona and Trieste, plus the final in Cordenons. And on the ATP tour, Alcaraz also made his first calling card with his marathon success against Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round of Rio de Janeiro.
# 2: Lorenzo Musetti, Italy: Jump from 363 to 112
If Carlos Alcaraz's game is to resemble that of Rafael Nadal (although Alcaraz is right-handed), Lorenzo Musetti can choose a comparable player among those cracks who celebrate a one-handed backhand. Like Stan Wawrinka, whom he knocked out of the tableau 6: 0 and 7: 6 (2) in the first round after qualifying at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. Then Musetti also won against Kei Nishikori before Dominik Koepfer was over. In the following week, Musetti also entered the list of winners at the ATP Challenger level: the 19-year-old won the title in Forli.
# 3: Sebastian Korda, USA: Jump from number 242 to 118
Well, what should be rated higher for Sebastian Korda: The victory at the traditional Challenger tournament in Eckental at the end of the season? Or the move into the second round of the French Open 2020 - and that after qualifying? In any case, the 20-year-old son of ex-Australian Open champion Petr Korda made the acquaintance of the very big tennis in Paris, namely with Rafael Nadal in his living room. By then, Korda had beaten two veterans, Andrea Seppi and John Isner, and against Pedro Martinez he was almost on an equal footing. In Eckental, the competition wasn't quite as prominent. The victories against Alexei Popyrin, Ilya Ivashka and Ramkumar Ramanathan from the quarter-finals onwards were without a set loss and therefore extremely impressive.
# 4: Jurij Rodionov, AUT: Jump from 328th to 144th place
Jurij Rodionov's Corona break was really inconvenient. Because the Austrian left-hander had really found his groove on Hartzplatz, the Challenger in Dallas (in the final against Denis Kudla) and Morelos (in the final against Juan Pablo Ficovich) won. The appearance in the Austrian Davis Cup team in Premstätten was also remarkable. Although Rodionov narrowly lost in the tie break of the third set against Pablo Cuevas. Jurij Rodionov set his personal highlight of the year at the Stade Suzanne-Lenglen. After the 21-year-old had struggled through the qualification, he defeated in a true marathon veteran Jeremy Chardy with 10: 8 in the fifth set. The victory in Vienna against Denis Shapovalov also showed Rodionov's great potential.
# 5: Thiago Seyboth Wild, BRA: Jump from place 204 to 116
Admittedly, the last weeks of the 2020 season didn't go too rosy for the 20-year-old Brazilian. The last match success was for Thiago Seyboth Wild in the semi-finals of the Challenger of Aix en Provence against the Chilean Alejandro Tabilo. Everything is outshone the year but by the premiere victory on the ATP tour in Santiago de Chile, where Seyboth Wild defeated Casper Ruud in the final. Oh, yes: The man who lives in Rio de Janeiro was one of the first players to test positive for the Corona virus.