Men's Tennis: 10 Unknowns Who Will Break Onto the Scene and Compete in 2012

Tennis is experiencing a golden age. Never before has the ATP tour seen such depth mixed with such untouchable talent at the top of the game. From Djokovic's magnificent early run, to Federer's speculated demise and late season resurgence, to Nadal's historic dominance on clay and even Murray's struggles to finally win his first major, there have never been many compelling story lines in men's tennis. 

With a top 20 and beyond that is so talented and battle tested, it will be hard for a new generation of young guns to break into the upper echelon of men's tennis. Here are the relatively unknown players who have the skills to do it and are hoping to make their mark in 2012. 

10. Blaz Kavcic

Current Rank: 92

The 6'2", 24-year-old from tiny Slovenia started the year off with a bang by beating 54th ranked Kevin Anderson in the first round of the Australian Open. Since then, Kavcic has kept to mainly challengers. While he doesn't have some of the quality wins as others on this list, he has shown a great deal of consistency. 

Six times this year, Kavcic has won four or more matches in one tournament. Although many of those matches were in qualifying, finding the consistency to put together consecutive wins as Kavcic has, is often the hardest task for a young player. 

If Kavcic can continue that same consistency against higher level opponents, he will further climb in the rankings. 

9. Matthias Bachinger

Current Rank: 94

In the past year alone, Bachinger has risen 100 spots in the rankings, mainly due to a few nice wins over Pablo Andujar, Denis Itsomin and Dmitry Tursunov. 

However, too often this year Bachinger went one-and-done. If he can last longer in tournaments and rack up a few more big wins, moving up another 40-plus spots is definitely a possibility. 

The talent is there. The question remains whether his mental toughness is as well. 

8. Adrian Mannarino

Current Rank: 87

The 23-year-old Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, came out blazing to start the season, going 12-4 in his first 16 matches with wins over Juan Monaco (ATP rank 26) and countryman Arnaud Clement (ATP rank 75). After skyrocketing to career-high ranking of 49, Mannarino has come back to earth a little bit. 

Nevertheless, Mannarino has proven he has the talent to belong with the game's best. 

After shocking the tennis world with back-to-back wins over Gilles Simon (ATP rank 16) and Juan Martin del Potro (ATP rank 22) at the London Queen's Club in June, Mannarino cemented his status as France's next big hope.  

7. Robin Haase

Current Rank: 45

If you felt like Robin Haase has been around forever, you were right. Even though he's only 24 years of age, Haase has been on the tour since 2004. 

Finally, after what seems like a gradual—at times sluggish—rise through the rankings, the Dutch Haase finds himself ranked in the top 50.

How much higher can he climb? Wins over Alexandr Dolgopolov, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, show he's not finished rising just yet. How high, however, will remain to be seen. 

6. Fabio Fognini

Current Rank: 48

There is a chance the 24-year-old Italian is too high on this list and will never be a serious top-20 player. That depends on his dedication and commitment to improving his hard-court game. 

On clay, Fognini is a master. As he proved by his quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garros, the sky is the limit for this classic dirt baller. But, if he really wants to be considered a true contender and one of the game's best, he is going to have to take the hard-court season more seriously and develop an all-around game. 

Until then he will continue to make a splash on clay and then fade from contention as Wimbledon and the U.S. Open roll around. 

5. Ryan Harrison

Current Ranking: 79

At age 19 Ryan Harrison is one of the youngest players in the top 100. He also might be one of the more talented.

After reaching a career-high No. 7 in the junior world rankings, Harrison has slowly worked his way up the rankings breaking into the top 100 earlier this summer. Victories over top-50 players Milos Raonic, Ivan Dodig, Juan Ignacio Chela and Viktor Troicki show Harrison belongs in the game's upper echelon. Hard-fought three-set losses to Mardy Fish and Marin Cilic should give Harrison confidence that he can hang with the big boys.  

Now comes the hard part of putting it all together. If Harrison can raise his consistency and keep working hard, America's next great hope could easily rise into the top 50 by the summer. 

4. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe

Current Rank: 81

At 21, few youngsters have as bright a future as the Stebe. His decision to stick to the challenger circuit to build confidence paid off handsomely as the young German earned five Challenger Tour victories and another finals appearance.

Smaller tournaments or not, his 28-3 start was as impressive as any on tour save for Djokovic. 

Stebe can flat out play. 

Of course, the decision to stick to smaller tournaments meant that Stebe didn't have as many quality wins as others. But when he was given the opportunities he made the most of them, as evidenced by his two consecutive wins over Nikolay Davydenko, a win over Juan Carlos Ferrero and his victory over Fabio Fognini. 

His back-to-back wins over Davydenko were perhaps his most impressive feat as not only was Davydenko ranked 29, but he showed that the first victory wasn't a fluke by beating Davydenko even more handily the second time around. 

If you were putting money on which young player under 23 would have the best chance of breaking into the top 10, Stebe would be a decent dark-horse choice. 

3. Pablo Andujar

Current Rank: 46

Searching for the next Spanish star? Look no further than 25-year-old Pablo Andujar. A bit of a late bloomer, Andujar is primed to have a breakout season next year.

On his way to a win in Casablanca and another finals appearance, Andujar posted seven victories over top-50 opponents.

If he can improve his record on hard courts, Andujar will be a consistent force to be reckoned with. 

2. Milos Raonic

Current Rank: 31

Die-hard tennis fans are already well aware of Milos Raonic. More passive fans will soon be finding out why. The 6'5'' Candian has taken the tour by storm and at only 20 years of age, is still learning just how good he can be. 

After reaching the round of 16 at the Australian Open, Raonic followed up his best performances in a major with a win at San Jose and a finals appearance in Memphis.

Injuries hampered his progress later in the year, but not every 20-year-old can claim three victories over top-10 opponents and an impressive 31-19 record on tour. 

1. Bernard Tomic

Current Rank: 42

Another 19-year-old with a game far developed beyond his years, is Australian Bernard Tomic.

At 6'4'', Tomic has a booming serve and powerful groundstrokes to boot. 

Tomic recorded nine wins over ATP top-50 players but what was perhaps more surprising was his breakthrough performance at Wimbledon where he upset Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling along the way, winning seven matches to reach the quarterfinals as a qualifier. 

No effort was more impressive from a player outside the top 10 than the Wimbledon run Tomic put together. However, like most immensely talented teenagers, consistency was a major problem for Tomic. Ten times the next Aussie great lost in the first round of tournaments. 

There is no doubt, Tomic is a future star that could one day own the top spot in men's tennis. The question is whether he can harness the mental toughness needed to do so.