Two of tennis’ brightest young hopes won ATP events on Sunday. Grigor Dimitrov took the title in ATP 250 title Bucharest while KeiNishikori won the ATP 500 event in Barcelona. Both titles were their first on clay and come a couple of months before the big red clay event at Roland Garros.
Both men could potentially win the title in Paris one day in their careers. It could even be one day soon. With Rafael Nadal’s slump, Novak Djokovic’s injury, and Roger Federer’s baby coming and his possible absence from the event, the draw will be wide open in comparison to previous seasons.
And the way that Dimitrov and Nishikori handled their opponents on their title runs spoke volumes for their confidence and their development. Nishikori made it past an impressive field including Cilic and Gulbis, both of whom he straight setted. And Dimitrov beat Stakhovsky and Rosol on his run, names that Federer and Nadal would not like to see anytime soon next to theirs in a Wimbledon draw.
Both players have had far bigger wins at bigger tournaments; Nishikori has beaten the likes of Ferrer at the U.S Open and Federer in Rome, and Dimitrov has made the quarter-finals of the Australian Open beating higher ranked Raonic on the way and beaten Djokovic in Madrid.
But those wins were as underdogs. Winning as a favorite is an altogether different game and their performances against lower ranked opponents at 250 events showed they were comfortable with that status, which may prove invaluable to getting through tough rounds in the early rounds of slams. Those rounds can not only feature in-form qualifiers and dark horses, but can also be played on non-show courts where the sounds of passers by, impromptu musical performances and customer hungry hot dog sellers can be as loud as player’s grunts and balls being whacked.
Ask Dimitrov just how hard it can be to get past lower ranked players in Majors. Last season he went out to 95th ranked Sousa in the first round at the US Open and 55th ranked Zelmja in the second round of Wimbledon. Nishikori meanwhile went out to 28th ranked Seppi at Wimbledon, but, in a far more powerful illustration of the dangers the early round of Majors possess, 179th ranked Evans at the U.S Open.
Both men, however, tidied up their games, and perhaps their minds, too, in the off-season and performed far better at this year’s Australian Open where both men pushed Rafael Nadal to the limits, Nishikori in the fourth round and Dimitrov in the quarter-finals.
In fact, 2014 is shaping up to be a great year for both young hopes. Nishikori won the title in Memphis and has self-proclaimed confidence-boosting wins over Ferrer and Federer in Miami, while Dimitrov is the ATP 500 Acapulco champion.
Winning titles, having good runs in Majors, beating higher-ranked players and those below them, Nishikori and Dimitrov are ticking all the boxes when it comes to what makes an elite player. And their own rankings tell it of their improved consistency. Nishikori is currently 12th and Dimitrov 14th, and with deep runs in the upcoming ATP 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, they could climb even higher.
None of the top 8 will want to see them in their section of the Roland Garros draw that is for sure. With their current clay form and general consistency, it is highly likely that both men will make their seeded positions. And with the talent and experience they have, they could even go further than projected. It is certainly about time. Both men have been touted as the next big thing for a while. With the top players currently sidelined or sidetracked, it might not be long before they are the big things, and the tour will certainly be all the stronger for it.
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