It’s Day 6 of the Australian Open and Gauff versus Parks represents a potential future rivalry of American tennis. Whilst Gauff has been on the scene for some time now, it is often hard to remember that she is still only 19 years of age. On the other hand, Parks is in her early 20s and is now starting to find a rhythm that could potentially progress her closer towards a Top 50 early this season. By all accounts, it appears with this 3rd Round result that Parks has the capacity to ascend even further if her season maintains track in alignment with the level of play that has allowed her to reach this stage of a Grand Slam. Irrespective of Parks progression and her performance this Australian Open she has been no match for Gauff which had the potential to be a closer encounter and for Parks to really show how far she has come
On the other hand, Gauff is playing incredibly solid and allowing her key metrics to shine which has a compounded effect on her cumulative performance that does not allow Parks to play her game. Oftentimes this is forgotten when a player of this calibre maintains a level of consistency of the 7 Keys that affords the 8th Key to shine through. The result speaks for itself when not simply a Top 10 player who is privy to all 8 Keys performs in alignment with these optimal performance parameters, but the collective affect when they are maintained and shifts the marker to the next level.
The differential here is in knowing and not knowing — 92% of players and coaches on the WTA and ATP do not know. As explained in “How to Develop a Top 10 Tennis Ranking”, Gauff is a part of 8% of players who are privy to this top echelon of play.
The primary question is whether or not Parks has the capacity to toe the line with Gauff this season or in those to come. At this rate and at Gauff’s current trajectory, Parks remains behind in all key metrics. That is to say that whilst Parks does have the potential and capacity to progress towards a Top 20 tennis ranking inside the next 2 to 3 seasons, Gauff is at another level and as she maintains her current level of play and continues to build upon her baseline to further compound the 8 Keys, this differential will continue to drift them a part if Parks doesn’t begin to learn and ultimately include the 7 Keys in her game. This is in addition to there being an increasing likelihood of Gauff to claim not simply a second Grand Slam title, but also edge closer towards that Number One ranking with a more entrenched presence of the 8 Keys that will widen the gap between these two players. Recall in the “What is Your Game Missing Series” that Gauff was projected to progress towards a Top 10 tennis ranking and to claim her maiden Grand Slam title only if she became privy to the 7 Keys and they were firmly integrated into her game. Fast forward an additional 4 seasons since this initial timeframe and Gauff has not only brought our predictive analytics in “The 7 Keys to Optimise Your Life” to life and achieved these results that were flagged some four years prior, but as the player continues to progress she sets herself up to be a serious contender throughout that second decade of play.
When it comes to Parks who is early on in that second decade of play and having reached the 3rd Round of the Australian Open, this sets a new benchmark for her performance to build upon, more specifically, throughout this season. If the player is able to capitalise on this result and steadily progress throughout the season, meanwhile becoming even more accustomed to all 7 Keys, Parks has the potential by all means to break into the Top 30 come seasons end. At the same time, if the player does not become privy to all 7 Keys and integrate these into her game she remains at risk of a performance plateau with some more limited results, in contrast to this standard, throughout the season.
In other words, players who only integrate a number of the keys and not all are susceptible to a regression in conjunction with a performance plateau which is further amplified by the lack of key patterns of play — void of the key metrics directly correlated with a Top 10 tennis ranking.
Insofar as the key metrics that align with and that directly correlated with a Top 10 tennis ranking, not only has Gauff gone on to further develop these more firmly, but they’ve been responsible for Gauff cementing her place inside the Top 10. This has demanded an increased level of frequency of the 8 Keys in the distinct patterns of play that support Gauff’s current ranking high in contrast to Parks who has glimpses of these key metrics in her game but there is yet to be a level of consistency and/or maintenance to progress this player towards that next ranking range. That said, a player who equips themselves with the 7 Keys and ultimately all 8 Keys is when a Top 10 ranking becomes within reach. Whether that be inside a season or within 3 to 4 is dependent on a players current ranking range and their rate of application and integration to align with the key metrics shared in the “What is Your Game Missing Series” and “The 7 Keys to Optimise Your Life” before reaching the pinnacle of play in “How to Develop a Top 10 Tennis Ranking”.
For more, visit The Pathway and The Long Game to our Secrets Previewed to better ascertain what it really takes in that initial 10 Years of Play to join the next generation of play and steadily progress towards the top echelon of play.
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