India, March 27 -- There is nothing more reinvigorating in sport than the excitement of youth and the promise of a thrilling future.

Of course, we delight in old warhorses such as Novak Djokovic and Virat Kohli battling the odds to hold their own against a new generation of stalwarts prepped to surpass them. We admire their extended swansongs and applaud their everlasting class. But the emergence of a young player whose skill and gumption surprises us is really what keeps sports-watchers hooked season after season, decade after decade.

That's why Boris Becker volleying to his first Wimbledon title as a 17-year-old in 1985, or Tiger Woods eviscerating the field at the Augusta Masters for a record 12-stroke win as a 21-year-old in 1997, o...