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Old 04-08-2009, 07:05 PM   #1
IrrettelatWet

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Default No Room at top for elite youngsters (yet)
No room at the top for elite youngsters ... yet
by Matt Cronin
Updated: August 4, 2009, 12:33 PM EDT 0 comments

LOS ANGELES - Year after year, much is made of the WTA's talented youngsters. But none of them has reached the final of the major over the past two years, and it's entirely possible that the tour will essentially remain a veteran's lair at the big events through 2010.

There's plenty to like about the promising teenagers and 20-year-olds alike, many of whom are playing in this week's L.A. Championships: the hyper-aggressive Belarussian, Victoria Azarenka; the savvy Dane, Caroline Wozniacki; the Slovakian sparkplug, Dominika Cibulkova; the wily Pole, Agnieszka Radwanska; the big-serving German, Sabine Lisicki; or the enthusiastic Romanian, Sorana Cirstea.

But whether any of them can make a huge push into the final at the upcoming U.S. Open is questionable because only Cibulkova has been able to reach the final four of a major, at the 2009 French Open.

After she upset Serena Williams to win in Key Biscayne in April, Azarenka looked like she might be ready to win a Slam — or at least reach a final. But she fell short in an emotional three-set loss against Dinara Safina in the French Open quarters and then Serena out-screamed her in the same round at Wimbledon.

The temperamental Azarenka is nothing if not intense and can scald the ball off both wings, but her decision-making remains a bit immature and she doesn't always manage her matches well.

"She plays great tennis. I like her mentality," Safina said. "She knows that she's good and she goes for it. I also like the way she works with her coach (Antonio Van Grichen). She stayed with an unknown coach and I was the same way with mine. Through good and bad times they are always together."


Maria Sharapova, who won Wimbledon at the tender age of 17, says there's no magic formula when it comes to determining whether a young player is ready to shine at the highest level. When Sharapova stunned Lindsay Davenport and Serena Williams in 2004 to win Wimbledon, she took every day as it came and simply relished the moments rather than fearing what was ahead.

"Some girls whom you think have a lot of potential take a lot longer to develop their games and get the confidence in themselves to become a No. 5 or No. 1," she said. "When I was coming up, a lot of people thought I had a lot of potential but when I won Wimbledon, it was out of left field. I didn't think I was physically or mentally ready to do it. I had a lot of challenges thrown at me as a 17-year-old and when I went on court against Serena, I didn't care if it was Wimbledon or Poland."

Sharapova will get a good look at Azarenka on Wednesday, when the two powerballers face each other in the second round in L.A. But she's already been impressed with the young woman with a tightly wrapped ponytail.

"I think Azarenka has a great potential to become No. 1, but the game is deep and it will take time," she said.

Rest of article: http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/stor...gsters-...-yet
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Old 04-09-2009, 03:33 AM   #2
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Sharapova, an elder stateswoman at 22.
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Old 04-09-2009, 04:32 AM   #3
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Sharapova, an elder stateswoman at 22.
And a good example of why you have to get as much success as possible at a young age. She already has chronic injuries, and enough money to retire.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:16 PM   #4
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For some of them their results in WTA Tour tournaments aren't that great . Cibulkova has never won a title, Lisicki has no good result at a Tier I and Cristea has no good result at a Tier I, II or III.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:32 PM   #5
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For some of them their results in WTA Tour tournaments aren't that great . Cibulkova has never won a title, Lisicki has no good result at a Tier I and Cristea has no good result at a Tier I, II or III.
Mhmm. I was pretty surprised to see Cirstea included in the discussion. I've been wondering lately how much of this (relatively, of course) "late-blooming" might have to do with the newer tournament restrictions for younger girls, which I'm in full support of. Still, it is strange to think that we'll never see another Hingis, let alone Tracy Austin, because the young girls just can't get the match experience to become a young champion.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:54 PM   #6
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Mhmm. I was pretty surprised to see Cirstea included in the discussion. I've been wondering lately how much of this (relatively, of course) "late-blooming" might have to do with the newer tournament restrictions for younger girls, which I'm in full support of. Still, it is strange to think that we'll never see another Hingis, let alone Tracy Austin, because the young girls just can't get the match experience to become a young champion.
I was surprised to see Cristea, Lisicki and Cibulkova included in the discussion.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:55 PM   #7
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Mhmm. I was pretty surprised to see Cirstea included in the discussion. I've been wondering lately how much of this (relatively, of course) "late-blooming" might have to do with the newer tournament restrictions for younger girls, which I'm in full support of. Still, it is strange to think that we'll never see another Hingis, let alone Tracy Austin, because the young girls just can't get the match experience to become a young champion.
While I agree that the restrictions might keep us from seeing someone attain a Hingisesque level of success at a young age, I think there will always be room for a teenage phenom to take the WTA by storm. But I don't know that there are any on the horizon. Who's the last young lady that you heard mentioned as a future multiple-Slam winner? It seems like the most anyone says these days is future top-10er.

Does anyone know of some young lady lingering outside the spotlight that is being talked of as the next huge thing? I don't. For all the love MLDB gets, she's now 16, has yet to crack the Top 75 (and is now back in the 100s), and has made 1 Quarterfinal - at Tashkent.
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Old 05-08-2009, 02:41 PM   #8
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While I agree that the restrictions might keep us from seeing someone attain a Hingisesque level of success at a young age, I think there will always be room for a teenage phenom to take the WTA by storm. But I don't know that there are any on the horizon. Who's the last young lady that you heard mentioned as a future multiple-Slam winner? It seems like the most anyone says these days is future top-10er.

Does anyone know of some young lady lingering outside the spotlight that is being talked of as the next huge thing? I don't. For all the love MLDB gets, she's now 16, has yet to crack the Top 75 (and is now back in the 100s), and has made 1 Quarterfinal - at Tashkent.
Yes, it is more a question of young talent for some reason it is not there for the moment. The new age restrictions would have only delay Hingis by one year.
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Old 05-08-2009, 03:48 PM   #9
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While I agree that the restrictions might keep us from seeing someone attain a Hingisesque level of success at a young age, I think there will always be room for a teenage phenom to take the WTA by storm. But I don't know that there are any on the horizon. Who's the last young lady that you heard mentioned as a future multiple-Slam winner? It seems like the most anyone says these days is future top-10er.

Does anyone know of some young lady lingering outside the spotlight that is being talked of as the next huge thing? I don't. For all the love MLDB gets, she's now 16, has yet to crack the Top 75 (and is now back in the 100s), and has made 1 Quarterfinal - at Tashkent.
Yes, it is more a question of young talent for some reason it is not there for the moment. The new age restrictions would have only delay Hingis by one year.
I'm also thinking that it may just be an odd talent gap for the time being, but every now and then I wonder if we never seem to see the big results from youngsters anymore because where a fearless teen could once take everyone by surprise and smash their way to the top in months, they now spend so much time being discussed as "the next big thing" while getting hardly any tour-level, day-to-day experience. I wonder how much that messes with their minds and produces the longer "growing periods" we've been waiting through the last couple of years. After all, it's a very short road from the fearless teen to the twenty-year-old head case (see Kuznetsova, S. ).

Again though, I want to stress that for all the reasons that have been discussed ad nauseum, I am 100% in favor of the age restrictions. I'm just curious to see if they are beginning to change the look of the WTA forever, or if we just happen to be in a period with a talent gap.
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Old 05-08-2009, 05:00 PM   #10
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The tour is deeper. The women are stronger. More reasons it is harder for a youngster to go to the top.
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Old 05-08-2009, 05:10 PM   #11
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The tour is deeper. The women are stronger. More reasons it is harder for a youngster to go to the top.
And not a one of 'em, young or old, is consistent. So that actually helps to level the playing field and open some doors for breakthroughs, like what Cibulkova did at the French.
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Old 05-08-2009, 05:25 PM   #12
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And not a one of 'em, young or old, is consistent. So that actually helps to level the playing field and open some doors for breakthroughs, like what Cibulkova did at the French.
It's been very frustrating to watch.

But, getting back to mwoods concern, I don't think it has changed the tour forever. Things go in phases. There was a time in the early 90's when everyone was frightened the men's tour was only going to be about serving. But, things changed.
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Old 05-08-2009, 06:40 PM   #13
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Does anyone know of some young lady lingering outside the spotlight that is being talked of as the next huge thing? I don't. For all the love MLDB gets, she's now 16, has yet to crack the Top 75 (and is now back in the 100s), and has made 1 Quarterfinal - at Tashkent.
There are some very promising young players (Robson, Mladenovic, Stephens etc.), but no one really stands out like that. But if someone did she certainly wouldn't be outside the spotlight for long. Hingis was well known to folks like us by age 13 and that was before message boards, blogs etc...
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Old 05-08-2009, 08:26 PM   #14
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if someone did she certainly wouldn't be outside the spotlight for long. Hingis was well known to folks like us by age 13 and that was before message boards, blogs etc...
That's what I remember, Suliso, and why I asked about anyone people might have heard of, because I have not heard anything. Hingis was getting a lot of Slam chatter very early. Same iwth the Sisters. And you don't hear that kind of heat associated with any younger players these days.
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Old 06-08-2009, 12:40 PM   #15
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Hingis was winning her slams at 16 because she got to start at 13. If real starting is being pushed more and more back, then the champions will likely not be teenagers anymore.
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Old 06-08-2009, 02:31 PM   #16
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I also think Hingis was an exceptional youngster . A bit the same with Capriati who also started at 13. Now, you can play starting at age 14 .The Robson, Stephens ,Keys can play but they are not doing it successfully for various reasons.
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Old 06-08-2009, 04:34 PM   #17
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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.
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Old 06-08-2009, 08:22 PM   #18
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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.
This really puts in perspective just how much the tour needs Henin, for competition's sake.
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Old 06-08-2009, 08:43 PM   #19
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This really puts in perspective just how much the tour needs Henin, for competition's sake.
Well, let's not get crazy...
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