The Next Shiny New Thing

A lot of attention was paid to 20-year-old Dominic Thiem yesterday.  Before his match with Rafa, Darren Cahill noted that the Austrian and German players were talking about the kid in a very similar way to the players’ banter regarding Rafa when he was a teenager.  That is, Look out for this kid–he’s the next superstar.  And even after his uneven performance against Nadal, during which match the defending champ was never really threatened either on the scoreboard (6-2, 6-2, 6-3) or during play (when he continually thuggishly pushed Thiem 10 feet behind the baseline), Peter Bodo came out on Tennis.com and devoted an entire column to Thiem and praised his ‘ferocious racquet-head speed’ and ‘terrific range.’

And it’s true, the kid passes the eye test.  He’s quick around the court, seems to possess a variety of shots, and he didn’t seem all that awe-struck standing across the net from the 8-time champion who’s only lost once on the terre battue.  But he also played with the scattershot focus and imprecise footwork of someone who is, well, young.  He doesn’t have the easy power of someone like DelPo or Robin Soderling, or Gumby-ish flexibility of Djoker, or the near psychotic hustle of the guy he was playing against.  Nothing really jumped out as that one shocking quality that placed him obviously above those others in the up-and-comer category.  In fact, his game reminded me a lot of Dimitrov’s, aka Baby Fed (aka BlackHeart, according to Serena) and another young player often pointed to as the future of men’s tennis.

Now, I know that this was one match, against the toughest opponent on the toughest surface, so maybe we weren’t seeing Thiem at his best, but the bottom line was here was a young player who looked good, maybe even great at times, but not what you would unreservedly call special, and with all the “future hall of famer” chatter, I think maybe what’s most interesting is where our need to call him special might be originating.  Namely, that we all might be just a little anxious as to what might happen when all the stars of this golden age in men’s tennis finally hang up the tennies and retire to Monaco or wherever.

I think we all remember the lull between the heyday of Agassi and Sampras and the coming of Federer.  Yes, there were still great players, and it was fun to see Roddick emerge and get to number one and win the Open, or Hewitt emerge and beat pretty much everyone, but without question, the interest level of the men’s game today is as high as it’s ever been with the Big Four still going strong.  It’s a time where you can have a legitimate argument as to which current player is destined to be dubbed the G.O.A.T. (no offense to Rocket Rod).  The top men’s players over the last seven or eight years have played tennis in a manner the likes of which had never been imagined before, much less seen out on the court.  And as suggested by Rafa himself in Bodo’s piece, it won’t be all that long before he, Fed, Murray, Djoker, not to mention Tsonga, Ferrer, Gasquet, Berdych, before all these guys are sitting in the VIP boxes of the Slams instead of playing in them.  It’s hard to imagine life without them.  I personally don’t want to think about it.

And so we dub Thiem, or Dimitrov, or Goffin, the heir to the throne before he really has a chance to prove himself if only to ease our uneasiness with the future.  And it’s not really fair to the kid.  These players are under enough pressure to improve and to reach whatever potential they possess without commentators or fans tapping their wristwatches, wondering when we’re gonna see the next great thing.  I know being under a microscope comes with the territory, and they will all have to learn to handle the relentless scrutiny at some point if they want to rise above the rest, but maybe we can all just settle down and sure, get excited about the kid’s talent, but not hold expectations over his head, expectations that in truth don’t have much to do with his game or his actual future in the game.  Why not just let the kid play and see what happens?