5 tennis rivalries to look forward to in 2016

Federer-Djokovic, Federer-Nadal, Djokovic-Nadal; the Fab Four interchange rivalries amongst them and have done so for years. But 2015 has shown us some new tennis talent waiting to burst on the scene, with some young players already having posed serious challenges to several top-10 players.They could take over from the old guard to create some exciting new tennis rivalries in the future. We explore 5 pairs who could start their own tense competitions

#1 Borna Coric vs Nick Kyrgios

Young and taking charge: Borna Coric (L) and Nick Kyrgios have both shown staggering talent on court

Both players are very young, have both made fairly recent debuts, and have impressed on debut. 19-year-old Borna Coric and 20-year-old Nick Kyrgios have both had breakthrough performances over the past two years.

Croatian teen Coric is the youngest player inside the ATP top 50, currently ranked 44th, and after beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets at the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel in 2014, he went one better to defeat Andy Murray even more convincingly in 2015, taking an embarrassing (for the Scot) 6-1, 6-3 victory.

Kyrgios, meanwhile, has himself been victorious over multiple top 10 players – most notably the Greatest of All Time, Roger Federer. Although his victories have not been as convincingly taken as Coric’s, Kyrgios has shown immense skill and only last year beat Federer, compatriot and World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka and Canada’s Milos Raonic, who hit a highest of 4th in the ATP rankings.

Both players are right-handed, and have similar playing styles. With strong double-handed backhands and a fondness for moving swiftly across court, the two would make for some exciting tennis.

The pair are yet to meet each other on the ATP circuit, but have faced off as juniors on two occasions with Kyrgios taking both victories in straight sets, although one had been fairly close.

Coric is described by many as ‘Baby Djokovic’ due to their similar styles of play and attacking baseline game, and indeed, Coric is higher ranked than Djokovic was at his age, so he could definitely give tennis enthusiasts something to look out for.