Episode #19 Season 25: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

Guest: Justin Yeo

Host: Shaun Boyce

Runtime: ~13 minutes

Episode Theme: A fresh era in tennis is here — new contenders, new systems, and a whole new belief that you don’t need to be Federer to make it.

🎾 What This Episode Is Really About

The “Big Three” era is winding down. Federer’s retired, Nadal’s winding up his career, and while Djokovic is still in the mix — his dominance is no longer guaranteed. That shift has opened the floodgates for a new wave of players, and this episode unpacks what that means for the pros, the weekend warriors, and the future of the game.

In just 12 action-packed minutes, Shaun and Justin break down-

• What makes this new wave different (and why it’s bigger than just “new names”)
• Why players with unconventional styles are finally breaking through
• How the U.S. college system is quietly producing high-impact pros
• Why tennis careers are lasting longer — and what that means for development pathways
• How the rise of American men is reshaping the ATP landscape

Today’s podcast isn’t a surface-level chat. It’s a quick-hit, insight-packed episode that connects elite tennis with the everyday player — and reveals why belief, opportunity, and adaptability matter more than ever.

Key Insights You’ll Get from the Podcast

🎾 Less Domination = More Opportunity

For nearly two decades, men’s tennis was locked behind an impenetrable wall — Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic. If you weren’t one of them, your chances of breaking into the top tier were slim. That’s no longer the case. With Federer retired, Nadal in his final seasons, and Djokovic not quite as dominant, the field is wide open. We're seeing more players from outside the traditional elite ranks crack into the top 10 and top 20 — not just as one-hit wonders, but as serious contenders.

U.S. Players Making a Comeback

It’s been a long time since American men were a serious force in tennis. But that’s changing fast. Right now, a growing number of U.S. men are climbing the rankings and proving they belong in the world’s top 100. The women’s side already has strong representation, but the men are catching up — thanks in part to a more structured development path and belief that they can actually compete without getting steamrolled in the first round.

🏫 College as a Viable Pathway

The average top 100 male player is now in his late 20s — and that’s a big deal. It means the door is wide open for college players who develop a little later. Unlike the old model that glorified teenage prodigies, today’s pro landscape rewards those who grind, evolve, and find their game over time. And no system supports that better than American college tennis, which gives players time to mature, build fitness, develop tactics, and rack up experience before hitting the pro circuit.

👟 Imperfect Technique, Real Results

Not every top player has picture-perfect strokes — and that’s okay. Players like Daniil Medvedev have unique styles that break all the textbook rules… and they win. That sends a powerful message: clean technique isn’t the only path to success. If your game works, it works. Whether it’s a quirky backhand, unconventional footwork, or an unorthodox serve, what matters is finding what works for you — and believing in it.

💼 You Don’t Need to Be a Superstar to Succeed

There’s a misconception that if you’re not winning Grand Slams, you’re failing. But players ranked in the 30s, 50s, or even 90s are making real money, building real careers, and staying in the game into their 30s. Some are even paying off houses in cash. This episode highlights that tennis doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing. There’s a strong middle class in pro tennis now — and the grind is worth it.

🧠 From Pro Tour to Public Courts: What It Means for You

This conversation isn’t just for elite players — it applies to coaches, club players, and weekend warriors, too. What can you take away from this new era? You don’t have to fix every flaw in your game. You just need to use your tools better. When Djokovic and Alcaraz are still tweaking their serves mid-career, it shows that growth never stops. The takeaway? Get a coach, work with what you’ve got, and build confidence in your own style.

🎤 Standout Quotes

• “You don’t have to be the next Federer. You just have to use the tools you’ve got.”
• “We’re finally seeing a huge wave of American men breaking into the top 100.”
• “The new wave isn’t just about new names—it’s about new chances, new paths, and new beliefs.”

👀 Who Should Listen?

You’ll get value from this episode if you’re-

• A coach helping players build belief and find their style
• A player grinding through USTA/ITF levels wondering, “Do I have a shot?”
• A recreational tennis nut who loves the strategy behind the rankings
• Anyone who’s ever felt stuck behind a wall of “perfect” tennis

Seems intriguing! Hit the play button now and get to listen to what insights Justin shares that can significantly change the way you see racket sports!

For more 10 Minutes of Tennis episodes: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKLIP3Zrp28TLg1nCs4E-2PzkRcjyePEM

YouTube Replay

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

https://tennisforchildren.com/

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net

https://windermerecommunity.net/

Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com

https://regeovinate.com/

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And the two day is the 10 minutes of tennis that you've all been waiting for.

We're going to talk about the new wave of players coming in now that the big three are with

respect to Novak Djokovic less dominant.

We'll just put it that way.

Justin, you want to jump right in?

What are we talking about?

Big wave.

New wave.

Is it big?

I said big.

I'm sorry.

We've talked about this in the past, but we didn't elaborate.

So now let's elaborate a little further and we can go in towards all different areas.

We can go into the spectator, to the average player or amateur player, player development.

We can look at all the different areas of what this new wave is doing.

But the concept of new wave is that without the top three in the men's side and actually

we can almost talk about it.

The women's side went a long time ago with the women's sisters dominating most of it.

We're just seeing a lot of new wave on both sides now, which is really cool to see.

It brings a lot of diversity to the game.

It brings a lot of different game styles and more idols than just one, two or three players.

And I think the conversation, I guess I'm bringing up is because we're going to see a

lot of rotation in the men's side and I'm bringing up the men's because already in the women's

we've seen a lot of rotation as well.

But on the men's side for the final time, we're actually going to see a lot of rotation,

I believe.

Sinner, everyone's like, yeah, sinners this, sinners that.

But can you really dominate on the clay?

Our careers is not going anywhere.

We're going to see a lot of players like Mavadev and all these other players that just

reinvent and start to get better and better.

We're seeing a lot of guys jumping from 15 in the world into the top 10 now too and getting

wins under their belt and getting more dominant against some of the top three players as well.

So I think we're going to see a lot of rotation coming now in this new wave, which is exciting.

It's exciting for the game because for a long time we've seen dominant three Kings.

I guess what I talked from a player development side is with so much diversity going on.

It brings numbers from all different countries to filter in and they're all trying to shoot

for their multiple different idols because they're rotating between rankings one to ten.

And then the other point of view on the new wave is we're finally seeing a huge wave of men

in the American top.

The Americans in the top 100 are the men's side to match some of the women's side.

The women's side is almost, you're almost at the fifth of the top 100 are all American women.

But we've seen that coming and we're finally now seeing it in the men's.

Well, we had a recent conversation with Fernando Sigal who's relatively keyed in with

some high level, basically all the high level coaches.

And he talked about the system that it takes to be a professional.

And when you get to the top 100 you use that to work your way up.

And you got a few guys like Sinner and Al Choraz, they kind of skip all that and they make the

big jump.

But most guys are working their way up.

They're climbing the corporate tennis rankings.

Climbing the corporate ladder, so to speak.

And this in this case, the way I'm picturing is when I hear new wave and I know I asked this

question when you first brought it up, I'm like, well, who are all these new players that

you're talking about?

But that's not really what you're talking about.

You're not talking about new players.

You're talking about people able to fill in and now work their way up where there

used to be this just top 10 wall of guys they could never get.

Yeah, yeah.

And probably the one thing I haven't brought up with you either is look at the college system

that has a huge amount of players that can now dominate and move up after going through

college and getting their rankings up and getting all the right things, all the right attributes

to become a professional.

I think that's going to really help America.

I mean, because there's not many systems around the world that have the amount of college

tennis that the American system has.

And on the men's side, the average age is like 27, 28 in the top 100.

So it's a perfect model to build a lot of players and now it makes a lot of players believe

they can make it too because it's just, like I said, this new wave of, I can make it,

I can have a shot.

You know, there's just so many players even at the age of 30, still sticking around because

now they've made it into the top 50 and they've made enough money to pay cash for their

mortgage or for their house.

And they just hung in there because there's this chance now that they can build their rankings

and get up and start making some real money.

Yeah, and I like the idea of the college path as well because it's not a new path and

we know.

A lot of guys came out of college, both Mac and Rose did, but if we look back, Blake did

absolutely.

Mac, is not.

And so we've got some guys that have done that.

Now, normally you have that guy that's, oh, here's this 16 year old, he's going to be the

next great thing.

But that doesn't necessarily mean that the rest of the guys aren't climbing that corporate

ladder and working their way into it.

In this case, again, it's just, there's now some space.

There's a little less dominance and there's a chance that we can work our way in.

Now in the women in the same way, you still have girls that win more often than not.

But look at Madison Keys recently and at the Australian, no, but I don't know anybody

that picked her besides her mom.

But we're looking at, looking at people that can, that believe now that they can break

through.

And I want to remind everybody that 20 years ago, we can say thank you to the likes

of, say, Patrick McEnroe and Mike Burrell and the people that really promoted the quickstart

and the smaller versions of tennis.

Because those were the guys that were four and five years old that are now Taylor Fritz

and Tommy Paul and working their way up.

So from an American side, I think we did a good job there.

Yeah, yeah, 100%.

And again, we're just saying we're seeing a wave.

We're seeing a new look.

I think it's really dynamic.

I think it's fantastic for the game.

You know, we're seeing players hitting shop making, probably not the same as Federer and

Joggervision Adal when they made it every second or third shot was a shopmaker.

But they've got plenty of shop makers happening at the moment.

And they're all great people for the kids to follow and the kids to look up to.

So I just think it's a really cool position right now, especially for American tennis.

Being in the strain, we've got a big wave coming up underneath us as well, but not as big

a wave as the Americans.

And so the Americans is great to see them back on the map.

And that the wave is definitely happening as far as I'm concerned.

And you're going to see, I think you're going to see if quite a few plays go in and out,

top 20 to top 10, mostly top 20.

All those guys have made good money, made a good career and enjoyed the game and made it

to the top.

And there's the thing is there is a business to be had.

There is money to be made.

There is a career to be had.

You don't have to win grand slams.

I'm pretty sure Reshard Gascay is doing just fine.

And the guy just loves tennis.

We've talked about him before as well, but it doesn't necessarily mean you have to be the

next Jokovic or Alcaraz to make a good living.

You can be.

We can have the argument that tennis needs to do a better job of allowing more professionals

to make a decent living.

But that's not what we're here today.

Today is we've got these guys.

They're not necessarily new tennis players.

Last time you mentioned the likes of Jordan Thompson.

And I think you mentioned O'Connell, a couple of Aussies that were kind of stuck in the 90s.

And I don't mean the decade.

I mean, the rankings stuck in the 90s.

And now they're kind of figured there's a little more belief.

I'm not going to get nuked in the first round every time.

Yeah.

I don't like to, don't like to promote necessarily ugly tennis.

But we can talk about Brad Gilbert all day long about, he promoted.

His book was about ugly tennis.

But if you look at some of these players like Dominia and some of these players that

are, even Tommy Paul is a little bit closed off on his backhand.

There's a lot of players now that aren't, I would say, technically as clean as what we've

seen for decades.

And they're hitting top 20, top 10 players in the world.

So that's giving also a whole wave of players that go, well, I might be absolutely perfect

on stroke production.

But maybe I can become that tactical, that incredible player that just makes it work.

I mean, we talked about correct.

Of course.

And I think that's, I'm sorry, I got to be part of the new wave.

That's part of the new wave as well as I guess is what I'm saying.

Well, if we look at the guys that do it, what do we say?

It was correct versus effective.

Right.

You got to do it right.

It was something along those lines.

When you look at a guy like Medvedev, you don't teach how that guy plays.

But you know what?

He stopped five in the world.

He's got grand slam.

So something works.

And again, that brings belief that we don't all have to be Roger Federer.

Right.

That's correct.

And that's sort of part of this new wave, I guess I'm getting that is we're going to see

a lot of a lot more tennis players.

And that's what we want in the end anyway.

So and even just the amateur player, right?

He's just out there going, I've got that.

And I've got a similar back end to that.

Believe.

And so they start to grind a little more or work a little harder or try to do something

different.

I mean, I think what's really cool lately is,

you know, we're seeing last year, everyone talks about Alcharez and Djokovic changing their

serve.

It's like, you know, he's a guy at the end of his career.

He's a guy like blooming, blooming his career and they're updating their serve, you know.

Mixing things.

Yeah.

And I think Rafah is probably the most, I say the most famous, but as from a coaching, coaching

perspective, we use as the, as the example most often.

Look at a guy who's willing to change things to win.

Do what you got to do, change things, update and again, I like how you bring it back to the

player on the weekends.

What does it mean for me?

What it means is anybody can win with any tools you have, learn to use them well, call your

coach, get better.

I had a guy call me up.

He said, I need to work on my back hand.

Don't fix it.

Just help me work on it.

I'm like, deal.

Let's do it.

And it's better now.

They didn't want to fix it.

He just wanted to use what he had and be a little bit more confident with it.

All right.

So go out and find a coach and get better, but don't worry about being Roger Federer.

Right.

That's, God, there's you new way.

You just described.

Sweet.

Sean finally wins.

Sean for the win.

Justin, we're, we finished our 12 minutes of tennis today.

I appreciate your time.

Thank you so much.

We will see you again next week.

Thank you, sir.

Absolutely.

See you guys.

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