Tennis World english 39 Tennis World EN 39 | Page 29

THE
TOWER
RETURNS
Potentially
the
biggest
story
of
2017
may
be
Juan
Martin
Del
Potro.
The
tower
Of
Tandil
has
managed
to
stay
healthy
for
a
number
of
months
now,
something
he
has
not
been
able
to
do
since
he
won
the
US
Open
in
2009.
He
quietly
played
some
excellent
tennis
in
2016,
going
from
1045
in
the
world
to
the
Top
40
in
a
matter
of
months.
That
statistic
should
greatly
alarm
the
rest
of
the
Tour,
who
are
well
aware
that
when
he
is
playing
his
best
tennis
he
can
beat
anyone
on
any
surface.

YOUNG
GUNS
It
seems
that
every
year
we
predict
the
following
season
to
be
the
one
where
the
youngsters
finally
step
up
and
take
over
the
Tour.
And
every
year
we
are
proven
wrong.
That
being
said,
2017
could
see
quite
a
few
youngsters
start
making
major
strides.
The
two
most
obvious
candidates
are
Alexander
Zverev
and
Nick
Kyrgios.
The
German
has
been
nothing
short
of
a
sensation,
using
his
powerful
game
to
upset
more
experienced
opponents

throughout
the
whole
year.
And
while
most
people
were
focused
on
Kyrgios’
personality
and
tantrums,
he
actually
played
very
well
in
2016.
If
he
can
remain
calm
and
focused,
he
may
very
well
be
the
first
of
the
young
guns
to
win
a
Slam.
Behind
these
two
are
the
likes
of
Dominic
Thiem
and
Lucas
Pouille.
Thiem
is
already
established
in
the
upper
echelons
of
the
game,
having
qualified
for
the
ATP
World
Tour
Finals
in
2016,
while
Pouille
recorded
a
number
of
big
wins
­
including
one
over
Nadal
at
the
US
Open
­
to
make
his
mark
on
the
Tour.
Pouille
in
particular
seems
like
a
tremendous
talent,
perhaps
already
better
than
the
other
Frenchman
on
the
Tour,
and
that’s
high
praise
indeed.
It
remains
to
be
seen
if
Nishikori,
Raonic,
Dimitrov,
Tsonga
and
Berdych
will
allow
these
youngsters
to
steal
their
thunder,
but
the
newcomers
are
certainly
going
to
try.
Time
will
tell
if
2017
can
redeem
the
relative
snoozefest
that
was
2016.
But
at
least,
as
we
have
seen
here
today,
there
is
some
reason
to
believe
that
next
season
may
do
just
that.