January 2, 2025
by Andy Schooler
FT.com

Spain may already have five players inside the world's top 25, but that won't stop them making another assault on the elite in 2004.

The production line of Spanish talent seems to be in fine working order still, with Feliciano Lopez and Rafael Nadal two players to follow in the coming 12 months.

Lopez, 22, has already climbed up to 28th on the ATP rankings following a string of decent performances in 2003.

His used his big serve to full effect as he reached his first two Masters Series quarter-finals in Canada and Madrid.

Refreshingly, Lopez is a break from the norm as far as Spanish players are concerned.

He is quite willing to get in behind his big serve to volley - as he has shown at Wimbledon over the past two years.

With solid groundstrokes too, Lopez could well threaten the top 10 this season if he polishes up the mental side of his game.

Nadal is more the archetypal Spanish claycourter.

With some huge shots off the ground, Nadal looks set to follow in the footsteps of compatriots Juan Carlos Ferrero and Carlos Moya.

At the tender age of 17 it may be asking a bit much to see Nadal join those two in the top 10 this season, but improving his ranking from 49th to inside the top 20 is a realistic goal.

Now is also a good time to look back at last year's ones to watch to see how our selections got on.

Mark Philippoussis justified his inclusion on our list.

The Scud, as predicted, bounced back well from long-running injury problems and reached the final of Wimbledon where only a red-hot Roger Federer stopped him from gaining his first Grand Slam title.

Philippoussis finished the year in ninth place on the world rankings.

Former world junior number one Richard Gasquet did not make the leaps and bounds many, including me, predicted, but he still managed to improve and at 17 his game should only get better.

The French teenager became the youngest player in the world's top 100 as he moved up to 93 at the year's end.

James Blake was our big disappointment, actually going backwards when tipped to break into the world's top 10.

Instead Blake slipped from 28th in the rankings in January to 37 come December.