The ATP's Next Generation of superstars is finally living up to the hype and potential, and the updated rankings on Monday will be a testament to this fact.
Two 20-year-olds will be ranked in the world's Top four of the ATP Rankings for the first time since 1992. One of them is Carlos Alcaraz, the current No. 1 who has held the tennis tour on his palms this year, and the other is a young man who is equally as precocious - Holger Rune.
Rune will move up a spot to a new career-high of No. 4 on Monday, joining Alcaraz in the top four. The last two 20-year-olds to achieve this monumental feat were 14-time major champion Pete Sampras who was one day short of turning 21 ranked 3rd, and the other being former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, current coach of Novak Djokovic.
It has hardly been a rosy hard-court summer for the Danish star, who hasn't won a match since setting foot on American territory. In fact, it's over a month since he last won Tour - a fourth-round four-set win over Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon.
Rune is also running out of time to recover from a back injury he picked up at the Cincinnati Masters, which prompted him to retire from his second-round match against Mackenzie McDonald. He remains positive the treatment he is receiving at the moment should enable him to return to training in the coming days.
Despite that dismal run in recent weeks, it's been an encouraging season for the young man from Gentofte, who previously relayed his dreams of being the ATP's No. 1 player. That distinction belongs to fellow Next Gen star Carlos Alcaraz who is looking to keep it out of reach from his closest challenger Novak Djokovic in Cincinnati.
After Alcaraz reached the final, it's clear that he'll retain his No. 1 ranking at least for the next three weeks.
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