Ten years later: What are the top 10 juniors doing in 2011?
A strong youth career is a start - but not all successful juniors make the leap to the men. Where do the top 10 U18 players from 2011 stand today?
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 19, 2021, 09:46 am
# 10: Patrick Ofner
Ofner was higher than ever in the junior ranking at the end of 2011, shortly before he had reached the final of the Orange Bowl and was defeated there by a compatriot: Dominic Thiem. Ofner took two Future wins in singles, his best place in the ATP ranking: 520th place in 2013. He was listed there for the last time in 2017.Ofner is now a youth officer in Carinthia and still regularly wins ÖTV prize money tournaments. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 Ofner was Austrian national champion in doubles. Patrick Ofner is not related to namesake Sebastian Ofner.
# 9: Liam Broady
Broady came in 2011 to the Wimbledon finals, where he was defeated by Luke Saville; in doubles he had already won the title in 2010. Broady came up to second place in the junior ranking. The man from Great Britain has repeatedly made his way into the top 200, but so far the big leap forward has not been made: He is currently listed at 128th place, just a few weeks ago he had his best ranking so far with 121st place, shortly after his first Tournament victory on the ATP Challenger Tour in Biel. Broady caused a surprise at the Olympic Games this year when he beat Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz.
# 8: Filip Horansky
The Slovakian won the junior competition of the Australian Open in 2011, together with Jiri Vesely. He is mainly active on the Challenger Tour and won his only title to date in Meerbusch in 2018. He is currently number 193 in the ATP world rankings, his best ranking: 161st place. His coach is an old friend: Karol Kucera.
# 7: Thiago Monteiro
Monteiro even placed number 2 in the junior ranking in February 2021, and he won his biggest title in Porto Alegre in 2011. In the majors, however, it didn't work: he only reached the third round there twice. He attracted attention on the tour in 2016 at his first ATP match when he directly beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, number 9 in the world at the time, at the home game in Rio de Janeiro. Monteiro is currently listed in 89th place, his highest ranking was 74th place in 2017. In total, he has celebrated six tournament victories on the ATP Challenger Tour - all on clay.
# 6: Hugo Dellien
Also one who made it to second place in the junior ranking, but left it behind in the majors - "only" a round of 16 at the US Open was possible. Dellien has won six tournaments on the Challenger Tour so far, all on clay, his first three in spring 2018 - the breakthrough. The Bolivian is currently listed at number 115. Best ranking so far: 72nd place.
# 5: Bjorn Fratangelo
The American is still waiting for the big breakthrough. In 2011 he won the French Open - in the final against Dominic Thiem. But he dreams of his career: He mainly works on the Challenger Tour, where he celebrated four tournament victories. At the ATP level, it went to the semifinals at the tournament in Newport in 2017. Best ranking: 99th place, Fratangelo is currently ranked 165th.
# 4: Dominic Thiem
By far the most successful player on our list! In 2011, Thiem reached the junior final in Roland Garros and won the Orange Bowl, climbing to second place in the junior ranking. He first became known to a wider audience in 2011 when he retired Thomas Muster from the ATP tournament in Vienna. In the meantime? Thiem has won 17 men's titles, including his biggest with victory at the US Open 2020 . Best ranking so far: 3rd place, this year he slipped to 15th place due to injury. The Lichtenwörther wants to get off to a flying start again in 2022!
# 3: Oliver Golding
Oliver who? Only the really great experts remember the British. Golding won the US Open in 2011 in youth competition, but Golding resigned from tennis in 2014. His best ranking: 327th place.
# 2: Luke Saville
At this point we congratulate again: Saville only married colleague Daria Gavrilova a few weeks ago , the two have been in a relationship since their youth. And these times were not only strong for Saville in his private life: the Australian won Wimbledon in 2011 and the Australian Open in 2012, which also put him at the top of the junior ranking. Saville is a big number in current tennis, especially in doubles, where he has his highest ranking with 23rd place. The greatest success: the final at the Australian Open 2020 with Max Purcell. Saville is hardly ever active in singles: in 2015 he achieved his best placement with 152nd place, this year he only played four tournaments.
# 1: Jiri Vesely
The Czech won the Australian Open in singles and doubles in 2011, at the US Open he was in the finals in both competitions, as well as in the singles in Wimbledon - this is called a deserved world number one. Vesely has so far not quite followed the strong junior results with titles on the tour. At least two victories on the ATP tour are in his statistics, another eight in the Challenger area. His current ranking: 83rd place, his best ranking was 35th in 2015.
And what are the best juniors of 2011 doing? We'll look at that in the coming days!