Generation ready to make their mark

“I felt at home from day one,” says Tiafoe. “Ever since my dad first took me there as a kid, me and my twin brother used to hit balls against the wall. After that, I learned from watching. It was definitely a different experience from most.”

Tiafoe’s game, too, is instantly recognisable. His forehand has a waggly backswing that makes it look as though he is about to swat a fly. But his soft, creative hands make him a hard opponent to read.

While Tiafoe won his maiden ATP title at Delray Beach in February, he cites last year’s Laver Cup – where he was the chief instigator of the Rest of the World’s joyful cheerleading routines – as his favourite event to date.

“I have known [Alexander] Zverev since we were 10,” says Tiafoe, “so when we were celebrating he was looking over and we were like, ‘You’re European, you can’t be over here, bro.’”

And what about the biggest European stars? Age 19

World ranking 35 Nationality Greece

“Rafa [Nadal] kind of intimidates me. He seems very serious all the time, so I let him do his own thing. Roger [Federer] is pretty easy going. He was asking what we were doing for the rest of the year and just having a bunch of small talk. It was unbelievable.” Can British tennis claim a slice of the credit for Borna Coric, the muscular Croatian who recently broke Roger Federer’s 20-match winning streak on grass? We can certainly try, since Coric spent two teenage years training at the David Lloyd Club in Northwood, north London.

Still only 21, Coric has already packed more into his short career than many achieve in a lifetime. His upward trajectory stalled last Age 21

World ranking 34 Nationality Croatia year, as he clocked up 15 firstround losses, but a new coaching deal with the respected Riccardo Piatti has put him back on track

Coric says that his resilience and work ethic were built during his time at JTC, the London academy run by Tim Henman’s former coach, David Felgate. He arrived, unaccompanied, aged 15.

“I learned a lot about myself,” Coric says. “I needed to start to cook for myself and pay for the food, which I never did before. My dad was coming sometimes, but mostly I was alone.”

The Lawn Tennis Association, in a repeat of its flirtation with the young Novak Djokovic a decade earlier, put out feelers to see if Coric might be interested in switching nationality. But like most Balkans he is fiercely proud of his homeland. “I was always going to play for Croatia,” he says.

Even so, he still keeps in touch with some of his British friends from that period. “Josh Page was with me. He was in the top five Age 22

World ranking 36 Nationality Russia British juniors. We were chatting just the other day, because we are going to go together for a vacation.” If last year’s ATP Nextgen Finals in Milan are to be seen as a guide, tennis fans should be looking out for a Russian resurgence – or should that be revolution? – in the coming months.

Three of the eight men in Milan played under the Russian flag – and they were a close-knit group. “With Andrey Rublev, with Daniil Medvedev, we are really close friends,” said Karen Khachanov, who comes into Wimbledon as the highest-ranked Russian because of Rublev’s back injury. “Andrey and Daniil were at my wedding. If we play against each other, of course we are not going to go for a dinner, but outside of the court, and especially during the training weeks, we spend some time together. We were always playing together, Under-12s, Under-16s and now the ATP. Especially with Andrey, we were practising at the same club from 12 years old when I was in Moscow.”

Standing 6ft 6in and serving at upwards of 130mph, Khachanov plays first-strike tennis in the manner of his idol, Marat Safin.

Last year was his first appearance in the Wimbledon main draw, and he came through two lengthy matches before falling to Rafael Nadal in the third round.

With his huge shoulders, Khachanov looks like he could be packing down in the middle of a rugby scrum or barring the way into a high-end nightclub. But he has a sharp mind too. The son of a businessman and a neurologist, he can often be found playing chess with Rublev in the players’ lounge.