TENNIS in DEPTH.

The first three wild cards into the AEGON Championships at The Queen’s Club in London have been awarded to a two-time runner-up, the current Wimbledon and US Open Boys champion, and a man who Rafael Nadal predicts will be a Top 10 player in the future.

The former finalist is Sebastien Grosjean, the reigning Wimbledon junior champion is the exciting 17-year-old Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, and the man that pushed Nadal all the way in last year’s third round at The Queen’s Club is Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Frenchman Grosjean reached the final in 2003 and 2004 where he was defeated on both occasions by Andy Roddick. In both of those years, the jet-heeled 30-year-old also showed that the tournament at Queen’s is the perfect Wimbledon preparation by reaching the semi-finals at the All England Club. He will be hoping that the AEGON Championships in 2009 is the perfect launch-pad for a successful comeback to professional tennis after undergoing shoulder surgery last December.

Dimitrov is one of the most promising talents in the world and was recently described by coach Peter Lungren, who previously worked with Roger Federer and Marat Safin, as: ‘better than Federer at the same age’. He is currently at a career-high No.372 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, and still the No.2 junior player in the world despite not having played a junior event since winning the US Open last September.

Nishikori, 19, is currently the highest ranked teenager in the world at No.118, but he has been as high as No.56 after winning his first ATP World Tour title last year in Delray Beach. After several more impressive results in 2008, including a run to the last 16 at The Queen’s Club, Nishikori was voted the ATP Newcomer of the Year, becoming the first Asian player ever to win the award. He was beaten 6-4 3-6 6-3 by Nadal in the third round last year. Afterwards, Nadal said: “He is going to be a top 10 player for sure, maybe top five. I am 100 percent sure. He’s a very talented player. He needs to improve a few little things, but he’s going to be very good.”

The three wild cards will join a field that already includes the World No.1 and defending champion Nadal, World No.3 Andy Murray and four-time champions Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick. James Blake, Marat Safin and Marin Cilic have also signed up to appear. The tournament still has two more wild cards to award. These will be announced in due course.

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Kei Nishikori, the 19 year old Japanese sensation, who has been picked as the ’star of the future’ showed the crowd in Brisbane just why he considered to be the best of the new crop of players, as he defeated Thomas Berdych 7-5, 6-3. Despite giving away almost 10 inches in height and 25 mph on his serve, the young Kei displayed his many talents as he bewildered Berdych with his beautiful strokes and tennis savvy. He is sure to rise through the men’s rankings, and just passing #49 will make him the highest ranked Japanese male player in history.

Berdych was seeded number 5 in the tournament, and he now joins Novak Djokovic on the sidelines. Nishikori will meet Paul Henri Matthieu, who defeated Ernests Gulbis, in the quarter final.

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On Monday (dec 29th.) Kei Nishikori will be 19, he was born in Japan in 1989. He was sent to the Bolletieri Academy in Bradenton Florida to be groomed into a ‘future star of Japanese tennis’ by Sony Electronics, and their gamble may pay off in 2009 as this young sensation finds himself, and settles into the grind of the ATP tour. In 2008 he has rocketed up the rankings from oblivion to #63, and if he gets higher than #46 he will become the highest ranked Japanese male player of all time. He won an event in Delray Beach by beating a surprised James Blake, for his first victory on tour, where he immediately caught the attention of the other players and the critics. At 5′ 10″ he has to rely on his speed, his gracefulness around the court, and his brain. All of which he has shown he can do at a very high level. Keep your eye on this young man, and don’t be surprised if he makes it into the top 20 by years end.

Just last week he had fun in the Bahamas winning the Mark Knowles Invitational. It didn’t improve his ranking, but it improved his social skills!

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