2024’s tennis stars to watch

As 2023 draws to a close, we start to imagine what the new year might hold.

In tennis, there are few certainties – beyond Novak Djokovic almost definitely winning at least two grand slams.

So what of the game’s next generation, so long beckoned to take the torch from ageing greats like Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the now-retired Roger Federer?

i takes a look at the big questions to be asked of the tour’s young stars in 2024.

Who is most likely to win their first grand slam?

It is not impossible that none will, given Djokovic was within a couple of points of winning all four last year and Carlos Alcaraz has graduated from youngster to established star by virtue of adding his second slam at Wimbledon and reaching world No 1.

The only other under-21 in the top 30 is Holger Rune, born just a week before Alcaraz in 2003 but still a little behind the Spaniard in terms of progression.

Not far though, having recorded career-best performances at three out of four slams last year and reaching No 4 in the world.

A difficult summer saw him slip to No 8 but the recruitment of retired six-time grand slam winner Boris Becker as coach seems to have reinvigorated his form. He will arrive in Australia next month full of confidence he can improve on last year’s fourth-round showing.

What about someone outside the top 20?

Our next youngster has no such scar tissue in Melbourne, but also no benefit from experience, such has been his sudden rise up the rankings. Arthur Fils, 19, has never even played qualifying at the Australian Open but could, depending on how the first week of the year goes, find himself seeded at the slam.

It would not be an undeserved spot for the world No 36, who ended 2022 ranked 251 in the world. He has since won a maiden ATP title, triumphing on home clay in Lyon in May, picked up his first wins over top-10 players and won a five-setter at a grand slam, knocking out the No 24 seed in New York. The last achievement has gone some way to dispelling concerns about his staying power, while his ball-striking and athleticism are beyond question.

And on the women’s side, who is going to surprise us?

Rule no one out of winning a slam in the women’s game. Four different players did so across four tournaments this year.

And no one should be that surprised if a confident blonde teenager from Russia does what Maria Sharapova did two decades ago and won a maiden grand slam before her 18th birthday. Mirra Andreeva already won a few hearts at SW19 last year when she came through qualifying to reach the fourth round and within a few points of beating Madison Keys to make the quarter-finals.

She will not turn 17 until April but is already up to 57 in the world, and talks with the poise of someone much older. She does have a temper, narrowly escaping a default at the French Open when she angrily whacked a ball into the crowd against Coco Gauff (who, were she not already US Open champion and world No 3, would be in our ones to watch for 2024 too), and will need to keep that in check if this really is to be her breakout year.

What about all these Czechs?

It’s true that Czechia seems to have an endless factory line of talent. They have four players in the top 15 and 11 in the top 130, including four teenagers.

At 19, Linda Noskova is the oldest of those, whom British fans may remember took Emma Raducanu to three sets at the French Open 18 months ago.

Noskova is no stranger to the clay, having won the junior title at Roland Garros in 2021, and has made steady progress in her professional career since: 2023 highlights include reaching the final in Adelaide (as a qualifier) and Prague, and helping her country to the Billie Jean King Cup semi-finals.

Any other former junior champions making waves?

Hard to ignore the progress of Dino Prizmic, who only seven months ago was lifting the French Open boys’ trophy in Paris, and is now ranked inside the top 200, helped by winning his first second-tier Challenger title in August.

Junior tennis in the men’s game is often less indicative of success than it is the women’s, but Prizmic already seems to have shown that he is making the transition with ease. He will be particularly dangerous on clay, it seems.

What about the US college circuit?

She might not be new news but Diana Shnaider is something of a rarity in that she followed up her biggest ever professional result – reaching the second round of the 2023 Australian Open and breaking into the top 100 – by making her college debut, rather than going pro *after* university, the more normal route.

Her bruising forehand and left-handed serve made her a huge asset for the North Carolina State Wolfpack and, having narrowly lost to Maria Sakkari in Melbourne, she headed back to the US to help the women’s team win the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time in their history and reach the national final.

The Russian is now ranked 93 in the world but did make it as high as 60 after losing the Ningbo Open final to Ons Jabeur. She certainly has the power to knock anyone off the court and will be a dangerous floater in grand slam draws.

Who are the best young British players?

It’s clearly a big start to the year for Emma Raducanu, who is yet to decide who will coach her for the Australian swing but has been hitting at full pace in London’s National Tennis Centre for weeks, and Jack Draper, who pocketed more than £400,000 at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown Grand Final, the perfect end to his pre-season.

But if you don’t already know about them, where have you been? So here are a few even younger players to keep an eye out for, if not this year, then in the years to come.

Hannah Klugman has long been touted by insiders as “the next big thing” and began to deliver on that a few weeks ago by bagging the Under-18s Orange Bowl title at the age of just 14. Previous winners include Jim Courier, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Caroline Wozniacki, Frances Tiafoe and Coco Gauff, so keep an eye out for her in junior slams and she could well be in line for a wildcard to qualifying at Wimbledon too.

There were also successes in 2023 for Henry Searle (17), the Wimbledon boys’ champion, and Mark Ceban (14), who won the Under-14s at SW19 and the prestigious title at Les Petits As in France.

Searle has been making his first steps on the ITF circuit in the months since, reaching two semi-finals and a quarter-finals in a strong end to the year that earned him a place in the top 1000 for the first time.