Three rising stars of tennis have been named as the potential players to become the “third guy” behind Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, in an apparent snub to Alexander Zverev.
With seven-time major winner Alcaraz still out with a wrist injury and world No 1 Sinner withdrawing from Cincinnati due to a knee problem, the ATP Tour is wide open for the second tournament running.
At the Canadian Open, five-time Grand Slam champion Sinner, Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic were all missing, while world No 3 Zverev suffered an early exit.
For the quarter-final line-up in Montreal, 25-year-old Brandon Nakashima beat 24-year-old Luciano Darderi, and 23-year-old Ben Shelton eased past 20-year-old Jakub Mensik.
Arthur Fils, 22, fell to 19-year-old Rafael Jodar, while Learner Tien knocked out Daniel Merida, 21, highlighting just how youthful the remaining players were.
More ATP Tour News
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
And while Sinner and Alcaraz are the tour’s dominant players, although Zverev, 29, did win this year’s French Open when the Italian fell early and the Spaniard was sidelined, if an outsider could win one of these Masters 1000 tournaments, that could give them extra confidence to face the game’s elite.
That is according to Serena Williams’ coach, Rennae Stubbs, who feels that Jodar and Shelton – who are sixth and seventh respectively in the ATP Tour Race – could step up, as could Fils and Tien, despite them being outside the top 10 for their results this year.
She said on the latest episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, “This is an opportunity for somebody to start winning these tournaments and say, ‘Ok, am I the third guy?’ Winning in Canada and then going to Cincinnati and winning those tournaments because neither of them [Alcaraz and Sinner] are going to be there again.
“There are no more excuses, guys. The two best players in the world are not playing so who is going to step up to the plate?”
Former doubles world No 1 Stubbs added that Jodar is a player who is going to start “knocking on the door to win these big tournaments”.
And if he or defending Canadian Open champion Shelton, or Fils, can win another big title, that may give them the belief they can compete with Sinner and Alcaraz “when they are healthy”.
The four-time women’s doubles major winner added, “This is exciting. What we need in men’s tennis is for one of these young guys to step up to the plate now. By winning a Masters 1000 title at this stage.
“Imagine if a Learner Tien or a Rafael Jodar steps up and wins this Masters 1000; it has to give them so much confidence to go into a US Open and say, ‘Why not?’ There is a possibility Alcaraz and Sinner are going to be there.
“But it really helps when you are winning a lot of matches and you are beating all these great players and the only ones you are not beating are those two who are not there but it will certainly help you going into matches like this against those great players and think, ‘Maybe it’s my time as well’.”
WHAT NEXT? Taylor Fritz says how he really feels about Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner’s latest withdrawals
