I appreciate your considered responses, esp. since I tagged you. I want to make clear that I do think that Felix is still so young and it is too soon to panic, though you laid out what has been going on of late very well, and I think you're right as to what he needs to take a step up, rather than stagnating/stalling. I threw out some names rather off the top of my head, when we were speaking of young Sinner, and I actually thought of Shapo, after I'd posted. Also still young, so I still have hopes for him, too. The one for whom I do believe the ship has sailed is Dimitrov, and so he was the one I mentioned as the cautionary tale. Interesting that he had lesser results than FAA at this stage. I think he was sort of the first "next best thing" and a lot of folks (by which I mean the pro-commentators, esp.) were enamored of his Federer-like style. He was over-hyped for a LONG time. I was saying that Sinner seems to have a sensible approach to the attention, but I would say the same about FAA and Shapovalov. (They are Canadian, after all.) Just saying that a lot of attention early in the process can complicate things for a young player. As I said, the "weight of expectations." 2021 is still a COVID-odd season, so we'll see how things develop. Sinner does look like he's THE teenager, right now, but maybe it's fair to expect some stagnating, as well, before he hits his stride.
Well, Dimitrov did have some good moments and that nice little run where he won a Masters and the WTF. I mean, before that happened it looked like he would never win a big title and he landed two within a few months of each other. Of course the fact that he fell back down to earth after that speaks of his lack of competitive drive. But he hasn't been a complete waste of potential, and he did something that other underachievers like Monfils and Gasquet never did. But I'd be very, very surprised if he ever won a Slam - there's just too many younger, hungrier, and frankly better, players now. Before the Next Gen guys emerged, the only way Dimitrov would have won a Slam is by the stars perfectly aligning - say, Roger being hurt and missing Wimbledon, Rafa being taken out early by a big server, and Novak being taken down by someone like Wawrinka. And then, maybe, he could have done it. But he really had that one shot vs Rafa at the 2017 AO. He probably wouldn't have beaten Roger in the final, but it could have been interesting. But now, with all the young guys--plus Rafa and Novak still playing at a high level--there are just too many obstacles to overcome.
In a way Dimitrov is more Federer than Federer is. My biggest complaint about Roger is that he's not quite as great a competitor as he is a pure tennis talent (I mean, this is a quibble: the guy has had an amazing career, and is a great competitor - but I do see him as third fiddle to Rafa and Novak in that department). The heart-breaking 2019 Wimbledon final was the absolute case-in-point: He played an even match with Novak and had a couple championship points, but couldn't hold his nerves. If Roger were a bit more mentally strong, he likely would have won even more than he did. Dimitrov is like that, but in addition to being a lesser talent (although still very talented and beautiful to watch), he just doesn't have the competitor's mentality. With, say, a strong dose of Rafa's competitive nature, Grigor could have been a regular top 5 player, even vying with Andy for that vaunted "worst of the best, best of the rest" spot. Like Obi-Wan said to Anakin, "You were the Chosen One!" But alas, it wasn't to be.
I don't think we're in that kind of territory with FAA, at least not yet. And I've long said that the post-Big Four era would be more of a Wild West like the late 90s to early 00s, with no clear dominant player, and a couple of old greats handing around. Then it was Sampras and Agassi, now its Novak and Rafa (and maybe Federer for a bit longer). Kuerten almost became the next guy, but didn't have the off-clay game. Safin maybe should have been the guy, but he was, well, Safin. When I first heard about FAA back in 2017 (I think), I thought, "wait a minute, maybe
he's the (Chosen) One!" But then concerns started to show up - first his heart issue, but then he seemed fine and tore through the lower ranks of the ATP tour in early 2019, reaching the top 20 right after his 19th birthday. That was the peak of the sense of him being the future top player and that was a year and a half ago and he has stagnated since.
I do think he deserves a bit of a flyer due to the unusual nature of the times, at least to some extent. But I would have liked to see him start this year where he left off, and then continue to rise from there. Instead, he just seems like the same talented but flawed player he was in 2019-20. Let's see how the rest of the year unfolds, though. I suspect as soon as we turn our attention away something will click and he'll start winning titles and going deeper into Slams. But I will say, if he doesn't reach the top 10 and win a title or three by year's end, I'll be disappointed.
