by Pete Bodo
Yesterday we took a quick look at Milos Raonic, one of the Fab Five youngsters who demanded a fair share of our attention at the Australian Open. A collective breakout, if that's the right word for it, is unusual. We're usually introduced to our prodigies one at a time.
That this group—Raonic, Richard Berankis, Bernard Tomic, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Grigor Dimitrov—all leaped onto our radar at once underscores that this was not the kind of classic debut produced by a lone prodigy, but a generational event; a moment when a diverse group of players who had hitherto been regarded merely as talented individuals suddenly and unconsciously acted in concert. In a case like this, the whole does exceed the sum of its parts. Going forward, it will be hard for me to think of any of these guys without wondering how one or another of the group is doing.
You might say that the excellent tournament these five kids collectively enjoyed was mere coincidence, but what fun would that be? Let's give them the benefit of the doubt—something that they've been earning in the past few weeks anyway (more about that later). Let's continue to think of them as a generation. If we can't compare them to the "golden generation" (Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang), nor the Hopman generation of Australians, led by Lew Hoad, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall, they may yet seem more of a unit than that ATP marketing genius' "New Balls, Please" generation. If that group had been kept to Gustavo Kuerten, Roger Federer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Lleyton Hewitt, the ad campaign might have achieved more traction, but...Nicolas Lapentti? Jan-Michael Gambill? That synthetic generation was too diverse and too large, and the difference in talent among the men too conspicuous.
In some ways, this group of youngsters resists categorization and its members seem to have little in common, including nationality. One is Ukranian, one Lithuanian, one is Canadian by way of Montenegro, one Bulgarian and another an Aussie born in Germany. On the other hand, the blood lines of every one of these kids runs right toward that Russo-European seam where east is distinguished from west. So let's just go for the pun and call them the Young Huns.
To what degree are the Young Huns a proper generation? Well, on an age-basis, you can make the case—but barely. The oldest, Dolgopolov, was born in November of 1988 (he's 22); the youngest, Tomic, turned 18 in October. That's a four-year spread, which is a lot in tennis—but the other three youngsters, Raonic, Berankis and Dimitrov—are within a year of each other. Berankis, the oldest, was born in June of 1990, and Dimitrov, the youngest, was born in May of the following year. Can three make a generation?
There's nothing about the way these guys play that begs for us to lump together, the way we were able to see the similarity among the Hopman era Aussies. Perhaps the greatest source of commonality among the Young Huns, beyond their regional heritage, is that they all popped onto our consciousness just a few weeks ago, even if the more astute among us were aware of some or all of them before the tournament. Why not? It can be as much of a binding agent as anything.
We're tempted to find a generational motif when the individuals in question tend to march in something like lock step; when they make progress together. While it's only been a few weeks since these Young Huns emerged, let's take a look at what they've done before—and after—their break-out Australian Open. We'll do it in order, starting with the highest ranked among them.
!Thedog Dolgopolov, No. 29: You'll remember that at the Australian Open, Dolgopolov put up back-to-back wins over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and fourth-seeded Robin Soderling before No. 5 Andy Murray, an eventual finalist, ended his run. Dolgopolov, whose nickname in the locker room is "the dog," backed up that great run last week in Costa Do Sauipe, Brazil, his first tournament since Melbourne. He didn't lose a set until he was beaten in the final by 13th-ranked Nicolas Almagro.
Raonic, No. 59: The pride of Ontario played the same number of matches at the Australian Open as its ultimate champion, Novak Djokovic. That was because, sallying forth with a world ranking of No. 152, Raonic had to play three rounds of qualifying just to make the main draw. To his credit, Raonic returned to the Q-wars after that great run in Melbourne.
The Canadian went to Johannesburg, where he again made the main draw and won a round before falling to Simon Greul. He then earned a wild card in San Jose and made the most of it. Raonic put up an impressive series of wins, beating hard-court veterans Xavier Malisse, James Blake and his fellow Hun Berankis before he punched a free ticket to the final when Gael Monfils withdrew from the semis. In the final, Raonic took down ATP No. 9 Fernando Verdasco. Raonic has played 19 ATP matches so far in 2011—fully 10 more than world No. 1 Rafael Nadal.
Berankis, No. 74: Granted, he got lucky in Australia. David Nalbandian, Berankis' secound-round opponent, won just one game over the first two sets and quit while trailing 0-2 in the third because he was feeling light-headed and disoriented. Berankis was beaten in the next round by David Ferrer, a guy who sometimes seems like he was put on this earth in order to teach ambitious young players the facts of an ATP life. Berankis went on to San Jose, where he topped Benjamin Becker in the first round and then mounted a great comeback to beat Donald Young. Ironically—or is it predictively?—Berankis lost to Raonic in the quarterfinals.
Dimitrov, No. 84: Another youngster who started 2011 on the qualifier trail, Dimitrov took a different approach than Raonic and therefore had fewer opportunities to crack through on the main tour. I suppose Dimitrov was hoping to get out of the gate fast and fresh Down Under, because he didn't play before the Australian Open (a strategy usually employed only by top contenders, and even among them not very often) [correction appended: Dimitrov's strategy was shaped by the three-week suspension he incurred for shoving an umpire; I forgot about that in my zeal to analyze the players' recent records- PB ]. He was met with some success, slashing through three rounds of qualifying and a first-rounder with Andrey Golubev before Stan Wawrinka, seeded No. 19, ended Dimitrov's run at five matches. Dimitrov then qualified for Rotterdam, where he posted a nice win over Evgeny Korolev before he was ushered out by the eventual losing finalist, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Tomic, No. 185: The baby in the group, Tomic is a full 100 ranking places out from the next lowest-ranked of the young Huns. But he's certainly doing his due diligence as a newcomer. Okay, he got a little help from Tennis Australia on the wild card front, scoring an entry into the Brisbane ATP event. He bombed in that, but then earned a main-draw berth in Sydney the hard way—through qualifying, with wins over some solid players, including Igor Kunitsyn. Tomic won a set but lost his first-round match to fellow Hun Dolgopolov.
Tomic had impressive back-to-back wins in the Australian Open (as a wild card entry) over Jeremy Chardy and Feliciano Lopez, but he was laid low by Rafa in the third round. He then returned to the Challenger circuit where was upset in the semifinals at Burnie and lost in the final of Caloundra. The takeaway is that Tomic really needs to work on his consistency, although it's not that easy to go slumming in the Challengers after you've tasted success on the big tour. And you just know that every guy down there in Challengerville is gunning for you. At Burnie, Tomic lost to Aussie veteran Chris Guccione, whose ranking is 355. In Caloundra, Tomic lost the title match Slovenia's Gregor Zemlja, ranked No. 174.
At this stage, it's still a learning experience for Tomic, and those losses aren't as bad as they may look on paper. The important thing for him is to get matches and experience, to get more wins than losses and to grow accustomed to going deep in tournaments—no matter the level. With 17 matches played in 2011, Tomic is right behind Raonic, and 12-5 is by no means a terrible record at the start of a new year. He seems to be doing all the right things.
Let's see which of the Young Huns can keep building momentum as the year rolls on.