With the 2012 season underway, it’s time for a look at the highest-ranked youngsters. In the “Under 23” category, you’ll see mostly familiar names. I like this list because it’s a useful reminder of who is still on the way up–Donald Young was disappointing for so long that we forget he could still mount an impressive career. To a lesser extent, the same can be said about Benoit Paire.
After Bernard Tomic’s and Benjamin Mitchell’s birthdays in the last few months, the “Under 19” cupboard is bare. It will be interesting to see who emerges from that group.
UNDER 23 25 Kei Nishikori JPN 12/29/89 31 Milos Raonic CAN 12/27/90 39 Donald Young USA 7/23/89 42 Bernard Tomic AUS 10/21/92 76 Grigor Dimitrov BUL 5/16/91 79 Ryan Harrison USA 5/7/92 81 Cedrik-Marcel Stebe GER 10/9/90 95 Benoit Paire FRA 5/8/89 117 Martin Klizan SVK 7/11/89 119 Vasek Pospisil CAN 6/23/90 125 Richard Berankis LTU 6/21/90 133 Thomas Schoorel NED 4/8/89 135 Alessandro Giannessi ITA 5/30/90 136 Pablo Carreno ESP 7/12/91 144 Evgeny Donskoy RUS 5/9/90 157 Facundo Bagnis ARG 2/27/90 163 Maxime Teixeira FRA 1/18/89 165 Aljaz Bedene SLO 7/18/89 166 Federico del Bonis ARG 10/5/90 172 Gastao Elias POR 11/24/90
UNDER 21 42 Bernard Tomic AUS 10/21/92 76 Grigor Dimitrov BUL 5/16/91 79 Ryan Harrison USA 5/7/92 136 Pablo Carreno ESP 7/12/91 173 Tsung-Hua Yang TPE 3/20/91 184 Javier Marti ESP 1/11/92 198 Laurynas Grigelis LTU 8/14/91 222 Andrey Kuznetsov RUS 2/22/91 227 Benjamin Mitchell AUS 11/30/92 275 James Duckworth AUS 1/21/92 276 Denis Kudla USA 8/17/92 277 Facundo Arguello ARG 8/4/92 287 Guilherme Clezar BRA 12/31/92 290 Mirza Basic BIH 7/12/91 293 Julien Obry FRA 9/4/91 321 Nicolas Pastor ARG 3/12/91 328 Agustin Velotti ARG 5/24/92 331 Kevin Krawietz GER 1/24/92 339 Damir Dzumhur BIH 5/20/92 345 Yuki Bhambri IND 7/4/92
UNDER 19 453 Roberto Carballes-Baena ESP 3/23/93 463 Tiago Fernandes BRA 1/29/93 466 Taro Daniel JPN 1/27/93 486 Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr ESP 9/14/93 530 Jason Kubler AUS 5/19/93 569 Bruno Sant'Anna BRA 7/12/93 578 Edoardo Eremin ITA 10/5/93 603 Jiri Vesely CZE 7/10/93 612 Joao Pedro Sorgi BRA 10/18/93 638 Dominic Thiem AUT 9/3/93 643 Oliver Golding GBR 9/29/93 662 Liam Broady GBR 1/4/94 680 Juan Ignacio Londero ARG 8/15/93 715 Hong Chung KOR 5/16/93 726 George Morgan GBR 2/7/93 728 Sebastien Boltz FRA 4/5/93 739 Denis Yevseyev KAZ 5/22/93 785 Bjorn Fratangelo USA 7/19/93 788 Matias Sborowitz CHI 7/9/93
Thanks for compiling this fascinating list. My top tip is Yoshihito Nishioka who is doing well and looking likely to make it onto your list soon at only 16 – although he’s perhaps a tad short to make it all the way to the top.
Three new 18 year olds to add to the next list are Thiago Montiero, Luke Saville and Filip Peliwo – all now ranked in the 500s..