07-12-2017, 01:41 AM
If you look at the winners of junior slam tournaments, you find a few who went on to be absolute superstars, some who toiled away well outside the top 10 and others who disappeared without trace: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_..._champions. This is complicated by the fact that the best players quickly leave junior ranks and join the senior tour. For instance, Lleyton Hewitt made his mark at the Adelaide Open when he was only 16 and immediately dedicated himself to the ATP tour.
Players like Donald Young were seen as champions in the making based on their junior form, but they are just battlers. Yet any player who makes it into the top 100 is an elite player. They are the top few players from their own countries. Gilles Muller made an early name for himself by beating Andre Agassi in Doha way back when, but he hasn't been able to do more than the occasional win against a top player. He's a very capable and doughty player but you'd have to say he's an ordinary player at Grand Slam level.
Look at Thomas Berdych. He has been a fixture in the top 10 and often is the next best outside the top 4 of the Joker, Fed, Nadal and Murray. But he has never won a Grand Slam tournament. The gap between the top 4 and the rest of the top 10 is massive.
Players like Donald Young were seen as champions in the making based on their junior form, but they are just battlers. Yet any player who makes it into the top 100 is an elite player. They are the top few players from their own countries. Gilles Muller made an early name for himself by beating Andre Agassi in Doha way back when, but he hasn't been able to do more than the occasional win against a top player. He's a very capable and doughty player but you'd have to say he's an ordinary player at Grand Slam level.
Look at Thomas Berdych. He has been a fixture in the top 10 and often is the next best outside the top 4 of the Joker, Fed, Nadal and Murray. But he has never won a Grand Slam tournament. The gap between the top 4 and the rest of the top 10 is massive.