Spectator wrote:

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And the ATP has noted his accomplishment: www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/03/10/Challenger-Weekly-Spotlight-23-February-2014.aspx

And, in a far more detailed article about "the Dominican Federer," http://www.diariolibre.com/tenis/2014/03/03/i507851_vctor-estrella-entra-top-100.html, it's confirmed that he is the first man from the Dominican Republic to reach this milestone. His goal, he says, is actually to reach the top 50. Fascinating article, which focuses in large part on the obstacles he has had to overcome, both in terms of lack of funding and in terms of playing a sport at what's a really high level but isn't recognised as such in a country which is so dominant in some other sports.

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 3rd of March 2014 08:00:10 AM

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Earlier in this thread there were several posts, including the one above, about Sñr Estrella Burgos who became the oldest player to break into the Top 100 at the age of 33. Well, it appears he is not prepared to just rest on his laurels having reached that milestone and he has just taken out Richard Gasquet to reach his 1st ATP Semi Final in Bogotá where he will play Bernard Tomic.

Bob in Spain wrote:

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TMH wrote:

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Youngest ATP singles quarter-finalists since Nadal. That's some benchmark.

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Guess that Master Zverev must now be the "Youngest ATP singles semi-finalist since Nadal" after taking out Tomas Kamke in 3 sets.

He will play David Ferrer in the semi final. Now if he wins that one, I will be seriously impressed

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Saturday 19th of July 2014 05:44:08 PM

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 Since Marin Cilic, and the youngest semi-finalist ever of an ATP 500, I think.  0 and 1 against Ferrer is more on form with rankings 

Well done to Mr Zverev, and he'll presumably learn from the loss to Ferrer - good to see what the very top players are like (and on clay, I'll take Ferrer as a top player). And hurrah for Mr Estrella Burgos - saw the photo on the ATP website, and the look on his face was just great ... joy ... wonder ... maybe some shock ... would LOVE to see him win the SF. He needs the points (defending loads) and who knows when the next chance to make a Tour final will be.

It's not particularly 'remarkable' but it was great to see Leo Mayer pick up his maiden ATP title today against Ferrer in Hamburg. I managed to see most of the match and it was high quality, and Mayer's reaction when he won was great to see after his decent performances in GS' and his lack of success relative to potential peformance. Likewise, like or dislike, I appreciated seeing Tomic beat Karlovic to take the Bogota title. The rankings drop and injury must have been hard to handle, so congrats to them both.

Not exactly remarkable but noteworthy that reaching the QF of Umag will see Borna Coric reach the top 200 at the age of 17.

As always I acknowledge that different youngsters develop and mature at different ages but if you look at the attitude, dedication and above all professionalism that Coric has displayed from before he even turned 16 and compare it with that of so many of Britain's talented young players the difference is massive.

Young Mr Coric personifies the impression I have of many foreign youngsters at international tournaments, especially those from Eastern Europe / Far East, compared to many of our own - they are so workmanlike.  Obviously this is a great generalisation and there will be exceptions in both directions.

I don't really buy the 'coming from poverty / life changing / more hunger' argument although historically there may be a little truth in it.  The background of foreign competitors seems broadly similar to our own - a few from really wealthy families, a few on really tight budgets but the majority from comfortably off backgrounds but for whom funding a budding tennis career is clearly a bit of a stretch.  In fact I believe Mr Coric senior is a lawyer.  My theory is that as other countries do not have such a wealthy association as GB, the careers of these youngsters are entirely funded and managed by the parents and that this engenders a different attitude in their kids - quite simply from a much younger age they look on their tennis as a serious job.

It's not that the parents are overly pushy or aggressive (although there's always a few!), more that once parents are making sacrifices in their own life - foregoing holidays, raiding their savings etc etc - they expect their children to be putting in a constant 110% effort into every aspect of their tennis.  As they are looking for help from outside sponsors, rather than a national association, they also look for a professional attitude and public presence (Facebook, twitter and so forth).  I believe that the GB talent ID, matrix funding etc persuades parents that the LTA  will/should take care of their children's progress and I believe it delays a mature attitude in many of our young players.  Incidentally, having such a wealthy association with such a well publicised elite program also deters outside sponsors from looking at young GB players, they assume they are already all fully funded.

The parents being in sole charge also means that the young players have someone planning, plotting, supporting their career whose SOLE interest is that player's success.

I know many other things come into play in how juniors of different nationalities approach the sport, cost of coaching, coaching styles, popularity of tennis, etc etc, but this is something that has always struck me at international events and consequently something I have often thought about and this is my best theory.