Four players punched above their weight in the 2016 season. Can they continue their winning habits or will the pressure of defending points get the better of them? The 2017 campaign begins in a big way with the Australian Open. There will be some notable absences from the big grand slam (mostly on the women’s side) but we’ll see early on which players are worse than their ATP ranking.
Ivo Karlovic
At 37 years of age, tennis players are usually well into their retirement enjoying their savings, but not Ivo Karlovic, who continues to fight old age, a tiring body and grueling tour schedule. Amazingly, he is still improving. The giant Croat has returned to the top 20 of the rankings for the first time since 2009. In tennis, it’s all about how hard you practice. Age is just a number and Karlovic is the prime example of that expression.
Karlovic won two titles, made his first round-of-16 appearance at the U.S. Open in his 13th attempt, and ended the year with a 32-22 record. At this stage in his career, it might look difficult to maintain his current position, but he isn’t defending anything until Roland Garros. If Karlovic can make a strong start to the season, the imminent decline can wait.
Lucas Pouille
Lucas Pouille’s stunning rise has seen him win the Most Improved Player of the Year Award on the ATP World Tour. The Frenchman made the big leap from No. 91 in the rankings in February to a career-high No. 15 by the end of the 2016 season.
Pouille made his first Masters 1000 semifinal in Rome, reached two consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, won his first title in Metz, and the ended the year compiling a 34-22 record.
Pouille is aggressive, tactically smart, skilled, has match awareness and — as seen in his impressive five-set victory over Rafael Nadal in New York at the U.S. Open — is brave enough to take on top opposition. However, in the 2016 season, he had nothing to lose and he almost played with careless disdain. This year though, the Frenchman has a plethora of points to defend, and is a known quantity. If Pouille crumbles under the weight of pressure, he won’t be the first. If he doesn’t, he’ll be on his way to bigger things.
Steve Johnson
Steve Johnson had a dream 2016. For a brief stint, he enjoyed the feeling of being America’s best tennis player. No, he didn’t go on a Cinderella run at a major to rise in the rankings. His consistent showings week in and week out got him on the verge of a top-20 ranking.
The upside is he is young and confident, and has solid wins under his belt. Also, he believes he can compete fiercely with the very best. The downside, though, is that he’ll again have to display steadiness and repeat his strong performances. If he doesn’t rack up wins like he did in 2016, he’ll fast become a forgotten man.
He’s a player that relied on his serve quite a bit in 2016. For him to be a superior player this season, he’s got to develop more dimensions to his game. He excelled on the grass, going 11-4 last season, but he was just 17-15 on the hard courts and 1-5 on clay. He’ll have to do better on those surfaces or he’ll continue to be a mirage.
Paulo Lorenzi
At 34 years and seven months, Paulo Lorenzi became the oldest first-time title winner on the ATP tour and peaked at career-high 35th in the rankings. Also, for the first time in his long career, he reached the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. Lorenzi turned 35 last month and there is little or no chance that the he will win another ATP title. In his best year on tour, the Italian won 24 out of his 49 matches. He’s a clay-court specialist, for the most part, as he was 14-10 on that surface compared to 5-11 on hard and grass surfaces.
He began the New Year with a first round loss in Doha and if the pattern continues, it won’t be long before Lorenzi calls time on his career.
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