The open American potential of Juan Martín del Potro

So, what has happened? Well: Federer and Nadal continued to play (and again), Murray and Novak Djokovic established themselves as world domineers, and the two men's tennis monopoly was reorganized as "The Big Four." Twenty – Five of them were largely populated by fellow workers such as the Spanish David Ferrer, the Russian Nikolay Davydenko and the German Tommy Haas. Slowly and without warning, the elite ranks of men's tennis have evolved from a playground for men-kids like Michael Chang (who won the French Open at age 17 in 1989) and Pete Sampras (who won the US Open in 1990 at age 19). resembling an active senior living community.

And then, too surreptitiously, the game became younger. In August, the analytical blog Heavy Topspin led a historical census of the top 50 players of the Association of Tennis Professionals. At the end of 2017, the average age for this cohort was 29 years old. Entry to the United States this year was 27.75 years, a record 35 years. And the average was eight 30, including Nadal (32), Federer (37) and Djokovic (31), who together won 50 of the last 60 Grand Slam tournaments.

During the first week of opening in the United States, the youth movement moved a few steps forward. Of the 16 men who passed the fourth round, 10 of them were 29 years old or younger and three of them were 25 years old or younger. It was quite the same in 2018 during the previous three Grand Slam tournaments, which started at the Australian Open – which also saw 10 under 30 crush in the fourth round.

There is a reason for this. Djokovic collapsed. Murray was injured. Haas and Davydenko have retired. Ferrer, who lost his first-round match to Nadal due to an injury, is about to qualify a career. Meanwhile, younger players were getting bigger, faster, stronger and using match movies and advanced stats to guide their training. It was only a matter of time before The Big 4 could hold them back.

Faced with these challenges, Dominic Thiem (25), a specialist in clay, lost his quarter-final against Nadal. Nikoloz Basilashvili (26), the unrated Georgian who scared Nadal in the fourth round; The Japanese Kei Nishikori (28), a former American finalist revitalized who made his third career in the quarterfinals in the United States; John Millman (29), the unlisted Aussie who surpassed and surpassed Federer to score one of the tournament's best ever; and Croatia's Marin Čilić (29), a 2016 US champion who has taken a big step. The other, of course, is del Potro.

The big Argentinian seems to be about to win another major at Flushing Meadows. He did not lose a set in his first three games and had a stifling fourth round match against 21-year-old Croatian Borna Ćorić.