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With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.

Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta tennis events at Let's GoTennis.com.

And today is 10 minutes of tennis with World Rennown tennis coach Australian in Puerto Rico

Justin Yeo.

And we are going to talk about what I am calling the rise of the Gen Z era in tennis.

Looking at the finals of the French Open, 2025, all of them were born after 2000.

Does this make them young or are they all...

Oh, we're definitely old mate.

No, I mean, that's good science.

The maturing all well and that I remember training Destiny Aver and where else did I train

in the 2000s?

Jamie Foulis, they were great, great players coming through that I think are all maturing

right now.

So what we're probably going to see, a big wave of them coming through at this age, more

than you would see a teenager.

Teenagers are going to be, which are the later past 2000, but 2000, we're going to see

a lot, a big wave of those because they're all in that maturity bracket right now for tennis

plays.

I like the phrase maturity bracket.

And I was doing some research trying to figure out are we having more younger players than

we used to and then every time I see one of those packages that they put out during the

majors and they've got the teenage, Chrissy Everett and the young Bjorn Borg and the young

Boris Becker and Michael Chang and all these players that were young and we see a lot of

the teenagers coming up and Rafa starting to win at 19.

It isn't necessarily new with the young players, but for some reason it feels different.

What's going on here where we've got Coco Gauff at 21, we've got Alcaraz, 22, Sinner 23

and Sabalenka 27?

Well, I mean, we've talked about this in our previous podcasts is that a player needs to be

way more mature and mature in so many different avenues.

The eyes, the adult eye doesn't mature to the age of 25, which we all know that.

Some mature a bit earlier, some don't.

But does that mean those names you just mentioned, they've probably got even better tennis ahead

if they continue to grow perception wise out of the eyes and get faster and faster.

The other thing that we have to realize is they've also had their eyes pretty strange till

now too because of the sun and the air and everything we put pressure on ourselves with no glasses.

So, yeah, I think just what we're seeing the most of is that when we talk about the five

areas, emotional, physical, technical, tactical, mental, we look at all those areas, you've

got to be pretty elite at all of those to be the complete package these days.

And the other element is that being saying this for quite some time, probably my almost

30, 40 years of development teaching tennis is that you've got to be good at every area

of the game.

You've got to be able to use the different grips and learn how to get yourself out of trouble

and I mean, the proof and the pudding right now, you've got to have incredible defense

skills because that was what to me was the difference between Alcharez and Senna.

Is Senna's really going to work on these defense skills?

Yeah, and I think Senna's defense is definitely better and you and I have this conversation often.

I think it's Senna's ability to finish a point that is the big difference where Alcharez

can come forward and especially later in the match, his ballies got better.

I don't think Senna had that same issue.

But when we look at the resilience of these players and the maturity, and I think that's

one of the things you mentioned earlier just now about the defensive play.

If you look at Giff and how good she was defensively, I think that women's match was terrible.

Personally, I didn't enjoy watching it.

I think it was bad tennis.

I think they were both struggling to play well.

They both complained about the win.

Like I get it.

Sometimes neither of us have a good day and somebody's got a win and I get that where it

looks like both the men seem to have a good day on Sunday.

But that resilience that's there and the maturity is that maybe the difference of having a better

team, having those around you, we're back in the day.

It was just, hey, look how good this 17-year-old is and there wasn't that whole group of people

supporting you.

Wow.

I mean, what a loaded question.

I mean, at the end of the day, if we look back, we saw a lot of replays of Chris Heffett

and some of these plays, Boris Becker, some of these guys that were playing, you're professionals.

You're out there getting not just a lot of money, but you're playing for something big and

you need to handle yourself.

So that's what I would say the difference between the Saturday and the Sunday was that you

got to get your emotions intact and stop playing the game.

I mean, you're also an example and representation of other young athletes watching on the TV and

it doesn't make it look good that if you're a 16-year-old out there, you know, we're called

it in Australia, spitting the dummy and you smash a racket or you carry on and you go,

well, look what the ladies did in the final.

Like, you know, I mean, the wind has always been there.

The sun is always there and the pressure is always there.

So I mean, it does show how much was on the line and how much they felt and how much they

let it out, I guess.

But at the end of the day, you were professionals as far as I'm concerned.

You compared the two Saturday and Sunday, they talked about the wind on Sunday and the only

thing that I think we need to bring up in a podcast and make people understand a little bit

more about because I wish they had have commentated that on Sunday is that every time there was

a momentum change, was a ball change with center and nobody talked about it.

And if you look at every seventh and ninth game and the next two, three games, there was a

huge momentum change.

Center was pounding the ball a little bit further.

The wind has started happening.

Less drop shots started happening because Alcose couldn't get the feel and the grip on the

ball.

Less variety was happening.

It was just totally different ball game.

If center had a serve well first served, this would have been all over earlier if you had

just served well.

I mean, that was at the end of the day to me.

What he missed the most is the first serve.

I think you both agreed that if it went five, it favored Alcaraz for a few different reasons.

And I want to make a point Alcaraz has a quote about center.

It is, it's a privilege to share the court with you.

And I think that's, it shows some of that maturity.

Absolutely.

And those situations and be able to understand that.

And that's a lot for somebody young in their 20s.

When we look at other sports and we look at how people are handling it or not having a good

ability to handle it, to be able to watch that is really a great thing because they're seeing

the example that Rafa and Roger brought.

Not out there smashing rackets and they were setting a good example for our children.

And my wife looks up on the television and sees our two and a half year old notice that

somebody's smashing a racket.

We know that makes a difference and we know anti-rotic currently is out promoting the sport.

And we're trying to do the same thing.

Let's get more people to understand how great tennis is.

And if they're not smashing rackets and complaining and having bad press conferences, I think

that helps.

Yeah, I think if you bring up the 2000s and some maturity, if there was something that's

probably different now than what it was, is you never would have seen, you know, sort of,

well, federated and a dialed Jocovic, you know, they were the era.

But the era before that, you know, Agassi and he wrote all of the players that we can think

of before.

I don't think they would have spent most of their speech humbly appreciating their opponent

and their opponent's team and spend a lot of time talking about their opponents and versus

themselves and how much they deserve the pad on the back and how much they're going to

keep kicking us.

I mean, I think it's got a little soft in that way, but on the other hand, you know, it's

a new age.

It's a different way of people speaking, you know, coaching on the court.

If I don't talk positive to the kid and try to give him a little bit of a, you know, tap

on the bum instead of a whack on the head, they just don't work the same.

So we're seeing a different dialogue, different narrative, different everything and I don't

know, I think interesting times, you know, when we talk about men and women even in our

normal worlds these days, I think in the next 10 years, we might see a bit of a mix, you

know, I like sometimes when I hear Roon speak and he just says, I'm just, I'm a killer and

I just want to keep going and I'm going to be the best.

And I'm like, that's competitively what you want as a player, you know?

And I think probably the one thing I like the most about the open and I hate to say this,

that the pain on sinner's face afterwards, even in his speech and then even in his interview

afterwards, that pain is Darren K. Hull going to eat that alive and just make him be the

work that all the other things that he needs in his game, he's going to use that pain to

grow his game.

And so Senator Meers, so many years more of development coming ahead.

That's it.

New title.

Use your pain.

I like it.

We are out of time.

Thank you sir.

This has been 10 minutes of tennis with Justin Yo.

I appreciate your time.

We'll see you next week.

Thanks.

Cheers, man.

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