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The Americans have some seriously marketable teen up-and-comers.

4K views 37 replies 30 participants last post by  Heroic Atreides 
#1 ·
Taylor Fritz is seriously marketable.
Tommy Paul is seriously marketable.
To a lesser extent, Francis Tiafoe . . .

Taylor Fritz, for one, is effortlessly charming and quite easy to root for. The rest have their appeal, as well.

If they can all make it to the top of the game, I can see the Americans owning the tennis promotion scene once again... which I think would be kinda cool. It's been euro-centric for far too long.
 
#3 ·
Tiafoe is just as much as the other two. Opelka could be just because of his height. One of those needs to become a bad boy though. Maybe that's how Kozlov can make a name for himself too.
 
#5 ·
Tiafoe is just as much as the other two. Opelka could be just because of his height. One of those needs to become a bad boy though. Maybe that's how Kozlov can make a name for himself too.
:haha:

Yes I really love Fritz after watching him first time today!
 
#29 ·
It's not like there's no interest in tennis in the USA. You just need that one supertalent.
Isn't it the other way around? If people are interested in the sport itself, you don't need good players of the same nationality as yourself. If there are great players, they would draw in people otherwise not interested.

Personally I'm interested in tennis and couldn't care less that my native country doesn't have good players.
 
#7 ·
God save the Queen.
 
#13 ·
Tommy Paul is already signed with Federer's Team8 agency.
 
#15 · (Edited)
The USTA is certainly trying. A lot was made of the fact 5 teenagers were in the main draw at Memphis which was a bit silly as three of them only got there because of WCs. It din't help that only one of them (Fritz) made it past the 1st round and that was only because he played one of the other teens (Mmoh). At least he proved his worth by beating Johnson in R2.

I'm not convinced any of them are that marketable though and it ultimately will come down to how successful they are. The last big American was Roddick and there was a real buzz around him at their age which which all of them currently lack.
 
#22 ·
It isn't always about looks. Fed embodies luxury, so he sells sophistication like no other, despite his looks. Roddick was convincing as the genuine cool kid next door you could hang out with.

Taylor Fritz just has a cool charm about him that I think beats Tommy Paul, even though Fed8's management team will probably make sure otherwise.



 
#25 ·
Marketable is fine, but are they good enough in tennis?

That is far more important.
 
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#26 ·
There are some nice signs.
You should see Taylor Fritz for instance. He's pretty tall (1.93m) but moves very well and hits a nice BH, good FH. Impressed so far by him in Memphis particularly in the pressure moments.
 
#27 · (Edited)
Too young to guess. They need to get to that level in the ranking when they have a lot of cash and bimbos from instagram, then we'll see their true talent.

Seems to be the biggest problem for the new players, bigger than the competition with the 30+ guys.

For sure they look promising, but it's just the beginning of the road.

PS. Fritz is the most handsome for me ;)
 
#28 ·
Guys never seen Opelka that much but he's a tower, often compared to John Isner.

How do you see him, will he be better or worse than Isner? How is his serve and his baseline game compared to John's?
 
#33 ·
Yeah, he does have similarities to Raonic, like mannerisms, facial expressions... no coincidence they both idolize Sampras.

Raonic is a lot more relentless, though. Both in seriousness and aggression on court. Raonic just doesn't give a ** what people think.
 
#35 ·
Paul to me has a certain panache. Very Steve Mcqueen/Paul Newman. Fritz ...reminds me a lot of Sharapova. A tall, mainstreamishly pretty white person. He does not effuse charisma but has that same Sharapova esque ruthlessness. He'll make tons of money on endorsements due to the endless appetite for great white hope types. I wish i could not notice his mini jowl tho that kinda kills it for me.

Mmoh is the most attractive to me but boy when he opens his mouth he goes down notches. Physically Kozlov's got nothing. His brand of intellectual tennis is my fav of all of them and he's very well spoken and bright. Same for the very learned and erudite Noah Rubin but he's not even six feet tall soo.....not a high ceiling. Opelka remains an unknown.

Tiafoe is a question mark. He's the blackest of them all, with all the stereotypical black features that Americans generally aren't too warm to. But he's a showman with a great personality and i predict he'll be a crowd favorite esp at Roland Garros/US Open.
He reminds me a lot of Guga in terms of being a 'joy of tennis' type. He's not as professional minded as Fritz and not as mentally strong but i love his joie de vivre and his exulting in being able to swing a racket and hit a ball for a living. He's a tennis nerd to boot. He also has 'next Arthur Ashe' potential all over him but not in terms of class or grace (he's 18 and still a head case but much improved on that point this year) but because he'll be the first black grand slam champ since Ashe. I worry about Frances though because he's so volatile emotionally and very hot headed. In a country that trains people to be terrified of black men let alone angry ones, i worry that his tantrums may alienate crowds.

Anyway can't wait to see how it shakes out.
 
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