Woodbridge: Forget ‘NextGen’, it’s time for ‘NowGen’

This year’s Australian Open was one of the first events when the ATP’s ‘NextGen’ showed signs that it could become what we’ve been looking for.

We still had Roger Federer and Marin Cilic in the final, but with Kyle Edmund and Hyeon Chung reaching the semis – Chung taking out Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic along the way – it indicated that the ‘NextGen’ could just be the ‘NowGen’.

I love the way the ‘NextGen’ concept has been promoted but it’s time to actually move on from ‘can they?’ and ‘will they?’ to find out who’s going to stand up and be counted.

This younger generation of men has had enough years to be left alone and develop. Now is the time to answer those questions about who’s going to take on the mantle at the top of the game.

It’s now or never in my mind, especially for those guys that are around 22 and have come through the ‘NextGen’ project. Now is the time.

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Young players are sometimes protected to the extent that they’re almost wrapped in cotton wool with positivity.

The reality is you have to lay your soul bare to become as good as you can.

Federer lays it bare with his emotions, Rafa Nadal with the physicality, Andy Murray with how he wears his heart on his sleeve.

But I’ve watched Andy learn to suck it up, take a lot of media negativity in terms of his behaviour, and actually go and work harder than anyone else to prove how good he is.

They are the issues that these younger players must now deal with.

It’s no good being touted as talent – talent is the worst word in sport for me. Talent is a package that you build around your ability to hit a tennis ball.

It’s not just what you can do on court, it’s how you handle the pressure you put on yourself, the pressure from your sponsors, time management. All of that comes down to the ability of the athlete to take control, themselves, of everything off court as well as on it.

A look at how the talented Hyeon Chung made history in Milan… #NextGenATP pic.twitter.com/erRNnkbcY3

— Next Gen ATP Finals (@nextgenfinals) November 11, 2017

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It always worries me a little bit with our younger players that we have two icons to look up to and emulate in the men’s game, and many don’t copy them.

Roger and Rafa transcend every sport. They are the ones every other athlete in the world looks up to in terms of how to brand themselves, how to behave, how to do everything the right way.

You have to be your own person, but any young player has the blueprint right there of how to behave off court and how to sell your sport.

Are the younger generation respecting and paying attention to what Roger and Rafa are doing? And are the people around these young players actually educating them to be the best that they can be?

The danger is a player thinks they are at the top of the game when they really haven’t made it.

Yes, they’re good players and making a good income, but have they got every ounce of their ability out of themselves? Probably not. Some of them are cruising and people are telling them, ‘It’s cool, you’ve got time.’

You don’t have time in sport.

You basically have a 10 to 12-year window to achieve everything you want to achieve. And if you don’t have your plan in place, you will underachieve.