David Ferrer, who lost in the third round of the Madrid Open to Tomas Berdych, 7-6 (8), 7-5, believes very much in the up-and-coming players on tour.
“Well, luckily, we have been able to play a lot of years, but right now we have a good generation,” the ninth-ranked Ferrer told the press in Madrid in regard to the ATP’s younger players.
While the 34-year-old Spaniard believes that many of them are very talented, only five players in the Top 30 are 24 years old or under. No. 14 Dominic Thiem is 21—as is No. 21 Nick Kyrgios—No. 22 Bernard Tomic and No. 26 Jack Sock are 23 and No. 28 Grigor Dimitrov is 24.
None of them have reached a Grand Slam final or won a Masters 1000 tournament, but Ferrer—who reached the final of Roland Garros in 2013 and won the Masters event at Paris in 2012 – thinks this new group is promising.
“Kyrgios is a really good player,” he said. “[24-year-old] Pablo Carreño is also playing great again. He's young and playing very well ... [28-year-old] Roberto Bautista [Agut] is a little bit older, but playing well and stepping up, and that's very important.
"Also, [19-year-old Borna] Coric is a player to follow. We have quite a few. Coric may be a little bit irregular, but he's a very good player. I would say that from the players that are playing regularly, we have Kyrgios, which has a lot of potential.”