"The next generation is here": Andrea Petkovic reveals what she loves about Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Learner Tien at Australian Open

Former German player Andrea Petkovic has pointed out what she liked the most in youngsters Joao Fonseca, Jakub Mensik and Learner Tien during the Australian Open. The first Grand Slam of the year recently concluded where world number one Jannik Sinner defended his crown as he defeated world number two Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 7-6, 6-3.

Even though the competition was all about who was going to win, like every year, there was a focus on younger players as well, who are expected to play a big role in tennis in the coming years. Three players in particular caught everyone's attention — Fonseca, Mensik, and Tien.

All three players produced some impressive results during the competition. Fonseca defeated world number nine Russia’s Andrey Rublev, Mensik got the better of three-time Grand Slam runner-up Norway’s Casper Ruud, and Tien defeated last year’s runner-up Daniil Medvedev.

Former German player Petkovic has been recently quoted in a report by The Tennis Gazette where she revealed that she loved the hunger in all those young players. The 37-year-old further went on to state that the next generation of players are ‘here’.

“The next generation is here,” she said. “Joao Fonseca played an incredible match against Andrey Rublev and he lost to Lorenzo Sonego who played a great tournament, he didn’t lose to a dud. Jakob Mensik, very impressive, he beat Casper Ruud in the second round and had match points in the third round to go to the fourth. They are very good and they will just become better. What I really loved, because I watched [Joao] Fonseca, [Jakub] Mensik and [Learner] Tien match back to back. It was all on Margaret Court [Arena] and what I loved seeing with them was that they are hungry. They are so hungry, they so want it, like they would rip their arm off to win this match, it was fun.”