Well, at least one final got played and completed today.

Congratulations to both players for reaching the final and to Sock for winning.

Pete

Susan and Jb, you were in good company

Great ladies that I really enjoyed meeting last Sun. in NYC

Oh and of course enjoyed meeting you also!!!

Pete, I thought the same things about Ryan Harrison's game; a good variety of arrows in the quiver. It bodes well for American men's tennis. (Lutz and Stockton. ! Very good. Really cranked up the Wayback Machine.)

The Junior matches are one of my favorite things about attending Slams - I skulk around like I'm an agent sniffing out new blood, though in reality I'm nothing of the sort. But I do have a pretty good record of spotting talent before they get to the Tour - Medvedev and Kafelnikov on separate continents.

This year I only got to watch a live stream of Jack Sock v. Damir Džumhur of Sarajevo. And if I take the plunge and head out to Flushing tomorrow, it's too late for any of the kids.

But I was impressed with what I saw of Jack Sock. Glad he cheered up the sad pandas.

Well he goes to my school(Sock), its cool to hit with him when he played on the Tennis team, I kind of knew he would win the Juniors.

Is sock the next great american hope? he has the size to do it

Would have loved to have seen the junior final but its not available on international TV.
I had the pleasure to meet and watch Denis Kudla play when he came to the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament this year. As he admitted his first time on grass - a whole new experience and one which he coped with very well.
I felt then that he has a future and was pleased to see him do so well in the Junior tournament in New York. Don't know anything of Jack Sock but will be watching out for both of them in the future.
Good luck to them for the future.

I watched the match on the internet, I'm sorry Peter! In my opinion none of these two guys is ATP top 20 material! Just like Ryan Harrison, Melanie Oudin and Beatrice Capra aren't. I understand that American tennis is going through its darkest era and the media and fans are hungry for the next great hope, but sometimes it seems you guys get a little too carried away. When a player wins a couple of random matches, some big titles come out with "the next big thing". Apparently you guys can not cope with the fact that tennis is not a British/American/Australian sport anymore, it's a GLOBAL sport. It's not baseball, basketball or American football, where you guys can grow champions and stars in your own bubble. Start sending your junior players to play challenger tournaments in Kazakhstan instead of spoiling them at the academies or with pathetic wild card junior tournaments and you'll grow some champions again.

Lorenzo, didn't watch the match, but would agree that the players you name, Harrison, Oudin and Capra aren't top 20. Agree that there is a tendency for "the next big thing" to come when an American wins a few matches. I think in time that American tennis will produce better player, It's just right now, none are on the horizon.

If this is Lutz and Stockton of the future.............thats nothing to look forward to! Who but a 60 year old tennis junkie could even tell you their former profession!

Princepro 110, did anyone ever tell you that is it Ok to disagree with a blog, or an article but to do it in a respectful way?

"Who but a 60 year old tennis junkie could even tell you their former profession!"

A 56 year old tennis junkie, for one.

And besides, what's your point? If I read something and don't understand a reference, it behooves me to look it up, not take the writer to task for thinking I know more than I do.

(And yes, I wrote "behooves".)

How can you not like a guy called Jack Sock!

I'm sorry, I forgot to mention in my previous post that I'm writing from Switzerland. Greetings from Central Europe.

lol pspace. i thought the same thing about Jack!

But seriously, these guys were fun to watch. and for heavens sake, they're KIDS. they're just starting out. to dismiss them already as 'never amounting to anything' is awfully premature, imo. If they become top 50, it means there are only 49 people in the PLANET that are better than they are at their chosen sport. I guess I'm not that dismissive about players' accomplishments in what I consider to be a fairly difficult sport.

They were just fun; they had variety in their games and tried to employ it well. At the moment, they are heartbreakingly young, and I for one am willing to watch them play, let them continue to grow and improve and see what they can bring to the 'big kids' table in a few years. It could be interesting.

JB, you are so right!! Not everyone matures like Nadal did. Give the kids a chance and let them show us what they can do in their own time.

I'm sure tennis fans in every country look for the next big-time player. That provencialistic quirk of nature doesn't just belong to American tennis fans. Those of us who criticize our own efforts to find that next big player take each another's contribution to the debate to heart. When the middle of Europe has something to offer, we'll probably listen. But we'll throw out the tired anti-American cliches. In the end, time will tell.

Hello

I'm not sure what this comment means:

"Apparently you guys can not cope with the fact that tennis is not a British/American/Australian sport anymore, it's a GLOBAL sport. It's not baseball, basketball or American football, where you guys can grow champions and stars in your own bubble. Start sending your junior players to play challenger tournaments in Kazakhstan instead of spoiling them at the academies or with pathetic wild card junior tournaments and you'll grow some champions again."

Some NBA basketball players -- not even first tier team either -- just won the FIBA worlds. So apparently people *can* compete on the world stage when they are grown in our "own bubble." Not that I want tennis players to be grown in a "bubble" -- but I don't even understand the comment.

We just had someone win the US Open Juniors with world class opponents who wasn't even seeded.

Doesn't mean he'll be top 20 by any means.

But the above comment just doesn't make sense. Is it saying "you should grow players in a home bubble"? Or you shouldn't? Or it doesn't matter either way? NBA players = grown in bubble. Won FIBA worlds.

Tennis players =/ not grown in bubble.

???

I don't get it other than just a comment meant to somehow trample on an American's [Bodo's] hope that maybe we'll have a nice tennis player.

I'm sorry that we don't have top ranked US tennis players any more. But arguably we had even *MORE* bubble-grown players in Sampras, Agassi, and Courier than today.

I hope we grow some good players -- naturally any one would in our country hope that. But right now I'm very very satisfied too in watching some great players -- particularly Fed and Nadal. This is a fascinating time to be a tennis fan and I feel fortunate. Maybe some day Americans will have a few to throw into the mix -- whether "grown in a bubble" or not.

JB - absolutely - it is preposterous to write off these two kids so early and the 'connection' that some people see between inevitable hype/hope for USA tennis and what actually happens to young players is equally preposterous. Gee, it is almost as if some people WANT to see them fail, just because they have the misfortune to be cannon fodder for the US-centric hype machine. Not. Their. Fault.

I saw Jack Sock interviewed on ESPN. He was pleasant, reasonably articulate for one so young and looking forward to both enjoying his win and going back to school. He also got to warm up Novak Djokovic before the semi...and WOULD have gotten to warm up Fed, but the Djokovic camp called first.

Sock Rocks!

I enjoyed reading this, Pete . Glad to hear about two great kids with potential for the future. This kid , Jack Sock , sounds like a real cutie .Got to laugh at his comment about his main draw match :)
jb , and susan -so glad you two "sad pandas" saw something that cheered you up

and yes, give the kids a break . They may turn out to be real first class slam champions or they may not . They may not even cho0se - or get the chance - to play pro tennis . But whatever their destiny - they are young - so young . Give them a chance to try things before we place the burden of the world on them . Let them have some fun .
And it sure sounds like playing this event - and making the finals was fun !

*waves at beth* it was really fun, and actually - the boys juniors were very entertaining. I dragged lpb(susan) there first thing; of course we were the first ones on the seats behind the baseline, they were still drying the courts! (The machines are hailishly LOUD..) So we saw the entire match. Kudla had a really nice clean game, lots of variety, strong 2 handed backhand and an awfully good one-handed slice. He just seemed to run out of steam, and Socks just put his head down and kept at it, he seemed to actually get stronger and more focused as the match went on. But I loved that neither player was afraid to come in to net, and by an large, they were pretty effective there. Some nice volley drills with both there and won on winners, not errors out or into the net. I liked that too.

in general, I was really impressed with some of the new kids I got a chance to see, ryan harrison, Ricardis Berankis (really really fun game, if he'd only GROW a couple inches taller!) and Pete Luczak come to mind.

like tina, i've really started to make a concerted effort to look at the youngsters, see if I can find a some fun youngun's to adopt. my usual crowd is getting a wee bit oldish, shall we say.. :)

Tom in Smalltown @ 11:06

Spot on. What country has a stable of sure-things? Does country even matter that much?

It's fun to speculate and that's all there is to it.

The next Fed or Nadal could come from anywhere, and the current list consists of "none of the above".

This is actually a reply to the last question by Bodo in the 5 final questions. I don't think Nadal can truly claim to be the GOAT when he only has 9 GS (Yes, I'm counting the US Open already). Yes, he has achieved all these things at the young age of 24, but I think consistency and longetivity is an important element. It is easier to achieve these things in an amazing run, but if you look at Federer and Agassi, it is harder to sustain that level of tennis in the long run. Ask any athlete and they will tell you maintaining a high level day-in and day-out is more difficult than you can imagine. If Nadal can dominate the tennis world for 2 or 3 more years and win 5-7 more GS, then we can start talking about the GOAT debate.

25 comments into a post on 2 american juniors, kudra and socks and ding ding ding!

we have rafa is the goat!

poor zombie ponies.....

*wanders off*

There is a terriffic young player from Quasiland named Wafto Weefie.

Someday he will win the US Open.

I wish my name was Jack Sock.

My cousin lives in a bubble.

Top drawer stuff from Mr Sock.

While I have no idea whether either one of these two young men will ever be top twenty, I will gladly watch their career unfold with hope for the best.

Pete

How would you rate Sock and Kudla vs past champions like Tomic and Dimitrov or even Wimbledon champ Fucsovics?

I would not write off any of these boys off as not top 20 material... its too early to say - case in point John Isner. When he was a teen who would have predicted him being a top 20 player? Other players (like Soderling, Davydenko, Simon etc.) improve their games to such an extent that they move up, sometimes even to the top 10 in their mid 20s.

I think that nobody has any clue who is going to make it and who isn't. I mean Sam Querry never made it to any grand slam final in anything and is now in the top 20. I Played in nationals with Andy Roddick and never thought he would make it and he did. How about John Isner--he didn't even win the NCAA's the year before going pro. Mardy Fish never won any big tournaments in the juniors at all. Then you have Michael Chang and plenty of other that have won tons in the Juniors and been top 10 in the world i.e. roger federer, nadal. You never know what will happen.

Lorenzo, What are you talking about? Harrison just turned 18. He beats the #17 guy in the world in the 1st rd. of the U.S. Open after going thru qualies and then has 3 match points against the no. 35 guy in the world in the 5th set tiebreak before losing. Clearly he is already playing at that level. To say he doesnt have a chance is silly. Hes the highest ranked teenager in the world in the top 200. If he doesnt have a chance tell us who does.

Jack Sock has potential, Ryan Harrison has potential, Denis Kudla has potential, Potential- Having possibility, capability, or power. Provent the capability.. This is something that anybody can't predict. History can repeat itself, or sometimes when young men in this case put themselves on the line to train, compete, and work hard good things happen, Great thing about it we get the opportunity to see it happen and the young men get the opportunity they have put themselves in to earn the right to compete. So let them compete. Jack Sock won the Junior Us Open!! Who's Next????

@john......Totally agreed at the moment ryan is by far the best looking teen out on the tour, not saying he will be a long term high quality player but he has a better chance than anyone else we see out there at the moment....and also Sock is the tits, strait up