[gardenerextraordinaire]

It just seems like the game has changed so much that it makes the comparison to how younstered fared in the past and how quickly they were able to make their splash on the tour almost irrelevant. When Hingis came on the tour, hardly anyone served over 100 mph on a first ball. Not as much emphasis was placed on crunching returns. You didn't have to hit a heavy ball shot in and shot out. The combination of power hitting and consistency and footspeed (the cope with the power of your opponent) is so demanding that some players are able to make some noise, creep into the top 20, perhaps even the bottom of the top 10, but that's where things seem to top out. All things considered, I'm inclined to think that the days of women winning their first major in their teens are probably over. Today's athlete seems to need more time to pull it all together. And unfortunately, the vast majority of them never will. But there are some that have that special "it" factor that might allow them to sneak in a major or two (Azarenka comes to mind; maybe Wozniacki; perhaps even Cirstea).

And unless Serena retires or goes on another professional walkabout, it looks like she's shutting the door on two-three majors per year, which really limits the opportunities for someone to win the big events.