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In tennis, the generations don’t have to be separated by decades, or even years. A month or two can be enough.
Just as the game is getting used to Rafael Nadal, at the age of 22, taking over at the top of the rankings – with Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray a year younger and threatening to bring him down – along comes the next wave.
Leading the way is Juan Martin de Potro, just turned 20 and on the move.
Del Potro, the eighth seed and world No.6, reached the quarter-finals of the US Open last year and at Melbourne Park on Friday made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Joining him in the fourth round is Marin Cilic, five days younger and just as upwardly mobile.
To Nadal, not quite two years older than them, Del Potro and Cilic are the threats to his life at the top.
“There are young guys, you know, who are ready to beat you,” he said.
“Every tournament, they are waiting for your.”
Del Potro, who stands 1.98m and is known as “Enano” – the dwarf – won in Auckland last week, having also claimed four titles from the five finals he reached in 2008.
In November he took over from David Nalbandian as Argentina’s No.1 player.
On Friday he beat Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in four fairly brutal sets to move into a fourth round match with Cilic.
The Croatian is also his country’s No.1, a position he assumed from Ivo Karlovic.
Cilic, the 19th seed, registered a triumph for youth over experience when he beat the 26-year-old David Ferrer, the 11th seed.
Cilic also reached the fourth round last year and fancies himself to soon be challenging the top players.
“I think I’m going to have my chances to reach the top 10 for sure,” he said.
“I’m already 19 in the ranking, so one good tournament can push me into the top 10.”
As exhilarating as the march of youth may be, there remains a place in the game for the wily veteran.
And none provides a more delightful contrast to the impetuous young men than Fabrice Santoro.
The 36-year-old Frenchman, once tagged “The Magician” by Pete Sampras, is playing in his 66th grand slam singles championship.
Santoro is ranked 52nd in the world, a higher position than the one he occupied 15 years ago.
He was meeting Andy Roddick on Friday, a confrontation between brute force and subtle artistry.
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