Jack Draper, Great Britain, 21
The British left could cause big problems for Rafael Nadal on Monday in the first round at the Rod Laver Arena.
If Nadal shows a better face than the past weeks, it should pass, but if not, watch out for Draper!
Large size of 1 meter 93, the 38th in the world is formidable in service and takes up space at the net.
He also knows how to be solid from the baseline and his forehand can be devastating.
And the boy learns quickly.
Inexperienced, he has only played three Grand Slam tournaments in his career and this will be his very first Australian Open.
He distinguished himself in New York by reaching the third round of the US Open last year where he fell against Karen Khachanov, after beating Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first round.
To discover
Australian Open: men's schedule and results
Australian Open: ladies schedule and results
Brandon Nakashima, United States 21 years old
It symbolizes the brilliant and talented new US generation.
Coming from the university course, the Virgina Cavaliers player succeeded Tsitsipas, Sinner and Alcaraz on the NextGen ATP list last November.
The American, whose father is of Japanese origin and mother was born in Vietnam, also won his first ATP title in 2022 in San Diego, his hometown, and distinguished himself in Grand Slams by dominating players like Denis Shapovalov at Wimbledon or Grigor Dimitrov at the US Open, and by reaching the 3rd round of Roland-Garros and the US Open and the 8th at Wimbledon, after leading two sets to one against future finalist Nick Kyrgios.
Now 49th player in the world, Nakashima does not hide his admiration for the king of Melbourne (9 titles) Novak Djokovic: “
The biggest thing I learned from training with him was his way of being super focused, paying attention to all the little details, both on the pitch when he's training and during the matches
.”
Brandon Nakashima
Panoramic
Ben Shelton, USA, 20
University champion last May, he had decided to give up his last two years of study in mid-2022 to embark on the deep end of professionalism.
A seemingly wise decision.
It was in the United States that the prodigy was quickly noticed.
Winner of his first match on the ATP circuit in Atlanta at the end of July, then felled Lorenzo Sonego and Casper Ruud in Cincinnati, the 20-year-old American won three consecutive Challenger titles at home, becoming the youngest player on the history of winning three titles in three weeks.
573rd in the ATP rankings at the start of the season, he is ranked 97th in the world, which allowed him to qualify for the Australian Open without going through the qualifications and without having to resort to an invitation.
This pure American product is beginning to be exported.
As part of the preparation for the first Grand Slam of the year, he won his first match outside the United States in Auckland against the Argentinian Sebastian Baez.
Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova, Czech Republic, 17 and 15 years old
Will they be the new Williams sisters?
If it is a little premature to predict the same golden destiny for them as the Americans, the Czechs Linda and Brenda Fruhvirtova are already causing a sensation.
At just 17 years old, Linda won her first title in early January in Chennai, India by dominating Magda Linettte, 51st in the world, and rising from 130th to 74th place.
She will play her first Australian Open in the big picture from Monday.
She already had a round at the US Open last season.
Linda won the Petits As 2019, her sister Benda in 2020. The latter shows exceptional precocity.
She, who is 130th, has notably won 8 titles on the ITF pro circuit (2nd division) by chaining 27 consecutive victories between June and last September.
The 15-year-old prodigy joined her sister in the big picture by pulling out of qualifying, which she was competing for the first time in Melbourne.
In forceps and mentally, she won her last two matches in three sets and made an impression against the Ukrainian Daria Snigur, 148th player in the world, whom she beat, when she was trailing 7-5, 5 -1... Opposed in the first round of the main draw to Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich, 38th in the world, the Czechs have a great opportunity to continue their accelerated learning of the very high level.
Qinwen Zheng Panoramic
Qinwen Zheng, China, 20 years old
Voted revelation of the year 2022 by the WTA, the 20-year-old Chinese started the season beyond the top 100 to finish it in the top 30. She won two secondary tournaments in Orlando and Valencia, but also achieved good results on the main circuit, reaching the final in Tokyo, the semi-final at the tournament in Melbourne.
And she was especially noticed at Roland-Garros by eliminating the former world number 1 Simona Halep and reaching the round of 16 against Iga Swiatek from whom she had snatched a set.
The only one conceded by the Polish during the tournament.
Orange Bowl finalist in 2018 against Coco Gauff, Qinwen Zheng hits hard with both forehand and backhand.
To aim for somets, she decided to leave her native land and now lives in Barcelona, where she is trained by the
Spanish Pere Riba.
Considered the next Li Na (winner of Roland-Garros in 2011), she stands out as the leader of new Chinese talents with Wang Xinyu (101st) and Wang Xiyu (131st), both also 20 years old.