Next Gen ATP ace tipped to outshine Joao Fonseca and Rafael Jodar at Wimbledon
Joao Fonseca and Rafael Jodar are the highest-rated teenagers in men’s tennis, and with good reason.
The two 19-year-olds achieved statement runs to the French Open quarter-finals, with Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud among Fonseca’s big scalps.
However, that was on clay. On grass, it could be a completely different story. Indeed, Jodar is yet to play on this surface as a professional, while Fonseca hasn’t featured much on the grass either.
The Brazilian did make it to the third round of Wimbledon last year but was trounced 6-2 6-2 at Halle by Yannick Hanfmann on Tuesday.
Jodar, on the other hand, left it late before pulling out of Queen’s with an abdominal issue. Both teenagers are set to play at Eastbourne next week.
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While Fonseca and Jodar have a lot of hype around them, tennis content creator and commentator Gill Gross believes that the less-heralded Learner Tien, 20, is better suited to grass right now.
The American does not hit as big as his fellow Next Gen ATP stars but his court coverage, ability to re-direct, and crafty play could help him no end. Gross, who also rated Tien above French Open semi-finalist Jakub Mensik on grass, even compared him to wily veteran Adrian Mannarino.
When asked which of their games translates best to grass, he said on his YouTube channel, “Although all of them have qualities that I think are good for grass, for Mensik, it’s the serve and the forehand.
“For Fonseca, it’s the general offensive sensibilities. For Jodar, it’s the aggressive returning and how much time he tends to take away. The backhand as well is, I think, a good grass court backhand.
“But Learner Tien, it’s about weakness mitigation. I want to use Adrian Mannarino as a reference point. But I also want to qualify that Tien can do some things in a traditional way that Mannarino can’t.
“Like Tien, as a pace generator, while that may not be a strength of his when you put him next to Fonseca and Jodar, he is in another world compared to Mannarino.
“But I also don’t think it’s unfair to look at a lefty who hits flat and manoeuvres the ball around the court and redirects a lot and anticipates and defends and covers the court really well.
“I don’t think it’s unfair to kind of do that like Mannarino-Tien comparison just for our purposes here. Why is Mannarino so much better on grass and so much better on clay? Because the ball speed is the weakness. Everything else is really good.”
Indeed, at Queen’s Club this week, 37-year-old Mannarino beat 20-year-old Mensik in three sets and Tien lost on a third-set tiebreak in Halle to Felix Auger-Aliassime.
While Tien is showing he can be a threat on all surfaces, evidenced by the fact he is 18th in the rankings and Jodar and Fonseca are 23rd and 25th respectively, the left-hander may be better-suited to the grass than his young rivals.
Gross added, “He needs the court to provide him the speed that he can’t create on his own. On grass, Mannarino can create penetration. He can create damage from the back of the court.
“On clay, he really can’t because he needs some help from the court. The clay doesn’t give it to him. A fast and slick low-bouncing surface gives him a whole lot more.
“I think Tien, while he’s not as extreme as Mannarino, it’s a good way to think about it. It’s how I’m thinking about it. If Tien is getting help from the court in a way that’s going to accentuate his redirecting, his ball placement, his lefty slice serve, sign me up for that.”
Wimbledon has been Mannarino’s most successful Grand Slam and two of his five title wins have come on grass. Incidentally, Mensik currently sits 17th in the rankings.
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