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Are today's WTA teenagers breaking through?

69K views 462 replies 157 participants last post by  TapeError 
#1 · (Edited)
Here's a thread about the teenagers of today. I was wondering what all of your thoughts are on them?

Here are the ones inside the Top 250:

1995
Anett Kontaveit
Barbora Krejcikova
Fangzhou Liu
Elise Mertens

1996
Katerina Siniakova
Donna Vekic
Elizaveta Kulichkova
Louisa Chirico
Oceane Dodin
Beatriz Haddad Maia
Sara Sorribes Tormo
Mayo Hibi
Ipek Soylu
Jana Fett
Barbara Haas

1997
Belinda Bencic
Ana Konjuh
Jelena Ostapenko
Daria Kastakina
Naomi Osaka
Katerina Stewart
Anhelina Kalinina
Paula Badosa-Gibert
Anastasiya Komardina
Natalia Vikhlyantseva
Ivana Jorovic

1999
Catherine Bellis

Who are the potential world beaters or who are the also-rans and journeywomen?

Thoughts? :)

Those marked in Orange are in the Top 20.
Those marked in Red are in the Top 100.
Those marked in Green have been inside Top 100.
Those marked in Black are between #101-250.
 
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#3 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Many of them will inevitably break into the Top 100 in the next year or two, but I'm really not sure which of them (if any) will go onto be future champions or even Top 10 players. A lot of that 93 group are already starting to become stagnate in the Top 200.

All of those players are decent with good junior careers, but have a hell of a long way to go before being any kind of significant threat at WTA level. Some of them hint at it, but there's nobody on the list really who already screams of having a massive future.
 
#5 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Many of them will inevitably break into the Top 100 in the next year or two, but I'm really not sure which of them (if any) will go onto be future champions or even Top 10 players. A lot of that 93 group are already starting to become stagnate in the Top 200.

All of those players are decent with good junior careers, but have a hell of a long way to go before being any kind of significant threat at WTA level. Some of them hint at it, but there's nobody on the list really who already screams of having a massive future.
It is interesting. While the more unfancied ones, such as Muguruza Blanco, Davis and Cepelova, have all made strides recently, beating players over 100 places higher than them and raised their rankings, the likes of de Brito and Garcia have completely stagnated despite high expectations.

The 1995 group looks the most promising to me but I guess it's a case of wait and see. Maybe there are other players who haven't been mentioned that may surprise us all.
 
#6 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Well, Maria won her first GS Title when she was only 17 .
I wish people would drop this statement, like she was the first and youngest to ever win a Slam :rolleyes:

I NEVER hear of Serena, "Yeah, she won the US Open at just 17!"

Never heard this with Martina Hingis, "Wimbledon at 16!" or Monica "8 Slams by 19!"
 
#7 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Isn't Jana Cepelova about Top 100 now?
Annika will soon break Top 100.

I would add Carina Witthoeft of Germany ('95) to this list.
 
#16 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Isn't Jana Cepelova about Top 100 now?
Annika will soon break Top 100.

I would add Carina Witthoeft of Germany ('95) to this list.
No, she will be around #140 in the rankings about to TBE list. Had pretty much no results coming in to suggest she'd reach 3rd round of Wimbledon.

Curious about Beck, I noticed there was quite a few misgivings about her win in RG juniors, dunno if it's a positive or negative that she played there (although at least won). She's had very little fan-fare about her despite being another promising German.

Yeah Witthoeit won a 25K today. Khromacheva also easily beat Puig in a 25K final today too.

Where is Laura Robson?
I decided not to include her since she's Top 100 currently.
 
#8 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Barty has SO MUCH talent.
She can not show it in those Wild Card 1st rounds of Grand Slams but she is really a fantastic player.
KEYS is very good as well.

Garcia is overrated,
so is Larcher De Brito.
And Mladenovic has to prove herself with good results.
All three were overrated the last years.
None of them is in Top 80 so far.
 
#11 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Barty has SO MUCH talent.
She can not show it in those Wild Card 1st rounds of Grand Slams but she is really a fantastic player.
KEYS is very good as well.

Garcia is overrated,
so is Larcher De Brito.
And Mladenovic has to prove herself with good results.
All three were overrated the last years.
None of them is in Top 80 so far.
Well Michelle has been quite close and with RD 3 of a GS, several top 20 wins and by far the most tour level wins she is the most "accomplished' of them
 
#15 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

yes sai sai is coming
 
#19 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

With the 1992 generation seeming as if McHale is the only one with a chance of being a top player, I was wondering what all of your thoughts are of the 1993-1996 generation?

I won't include the likes of Stephens, Babos and Robson, has they have all reached the Top 100 and are continuing to rise, but what about these players who are all in the world's Top 250:

1993
Garbine Muguruza Blanco
Lauren Davis
Jana Cepelova
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Caroline Garcia
Kristina Mladenovic
Monica Puig
Alexandra Krunic
Alja Tomljanovic
Akiko Omae

1994
Annika Beck
Grace Min
Elina Svitolina
Saisai Zheng
Jessica Pegula
Daria Gavrilova

1995
Yulia Putintseva
Madison Keys
Irina Khromacheva

1996
Donna Vekic
Ashleigh Barty

Should at least 75% of these players be Top 100 in the ranks next year or are they not world-beaters by any stretch?

Thoughts? :)
Some of these players will have very good careers, some of them won't. I won't bother sorting out who I think will and who I think won't make it partly because I can't be bothered and partly because in truth I don't really have a clue and nobody else does either.

Most of these players have the potential to have very good careers but which ones will put the much needed work in and get the proper coaching and stay healthy who is to say.

Anyway, that doesn't answer the question because the question is refering to the possibility of a substantial amount of these players breaking through in the near future. To answer that question...simply, it won't happen. No mass teenage breakthrough is imminent.

Anyone who has been following tennis the last ten years will have noticed by now the age at which players are breaking through is getting later and later. We are much more likely to see players in their midtwenties having breakthrough years emerging into the top 10 than we are to see teens zooming into high ranked positions. These days even getting into the top 100 as a teen is fairly unusual. You can count the teens in the top 100 on one hand. That isn't going to change.

So while some of the players on that list have great futures ahead of them, with perhaps one or two exceptions, we are not looking at a list of players who are going to be making their mark (and by that I am thinking in terms of at least a top 50 ranking) next year, we are looking at a list of players who will be making their mark in 3 or 4 years and in some case even more than that. Give these girls some time.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Is it just me, or do posters not follow German players because their forum is in German???

In my opinion, all the 95 and 94 players will make it
96 and 93 I am not so sure
Many of the 93 people have been too close for too long now and have missed their opportunity like Tomljanovic and Mladenovic
And the 96 girls have the problem of Ash perhaps being too small and Donna needing to change her game and play harder tournaments
 
#42 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

In 5 years time, Vekic will be in the top 20 at least- she's sooo good and underrated
She is good, but I would not go as far as underrated
Francoise Abanda and Eugenie Bouchard are underrated ;)

Noone wrote about Ons Jabeur????
She is good but doesn't really have weapons IMO :shrug:
She hasn't really had any good results except on clay, and even they have been few and far-between
 
#25 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Yulia Putintseva, Ashleigh Barty and Donna Vekic are standouts in terms of being able to win several $25Ks at such a young age (15/16 years old). Pretty much everyone knows about these three as they're constantly talked about here, although I guess Vekic is a bit more under the radar as her junior results are hardly stellar compared to her outstanding success in pro events. But all three of them are certainly heading in the right direction in their young careers. Of the 1993-1996 group these are the best three.

As for some of the others I pay attention to are Garbine Muguruza Blanco, Annika Beck, Carina Witthoeft, Irina Khromacheva, Elina Svitolina and Grace Min.

Players like Mladenovic, Garcia, Larcher de Brito and Tomljanovic and Diyas have been stalling forever. Although the latter two have been injured/sick I believe and are starting to get better results. But I really don't see any of them being top players.

Keys and Kontaveit are hardly living up to their hype with disappointing years so far, but they're both young. Townsend is doing great in juniors but hasn't played a professional event all year so it's really hard to gauge her potential.

As for 1997, Belinda Bencic and Veronika Kudermetova are really the two leading the field. Bencic has a 31-4 W/L 2012 record in juniors, winning two G1 events, and is currently ranked #21. Kudermetova reached the semifinals of a $25K in Moscow as a qualifier a few months ago.

Here are some players that are doing very well in challengers recently who nobody seemed to have mentioned and "fly under the radar" from all the TennisForum hype.

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor from Spain (born 1992) is on a 17 match winning streak, winning two $25Ks as a qualifier and a $50K+H. She thrashed Khromacheva 6-1 6-1 in the $50K+H. She's currently ranked #215. I know this thread is only for 1993-1996, but Maria-Teresa was out injured for several months last year and after May 2011 she only played two $10Ks at the very end of the year after she had recovered. She virtually has no points to defend for the rest of 2012.

Margarita Gasparyan from Russia (born 1994) is on a 15 match winning streak, winning three $25Ks in a row in Moscow. She beat Gavrilova twice and Witthoeft in this run. She's currently ranked #287.

Anna-Lena Friedsam from Germany (also born 1994) is on a 18 match winning streak, winning a $10K and then two $25Ks in a row, both as a qualifier. She beat Vekic in Padova. She's currently ranked #285.

Some of these players I mentioned are bound to be "flops" like Flipkens, Zahlavova Strycova, Krajicek and Karatantcheva. But there are signs that a lot of them will become very good players in 3-4 years time. It'll be interesting to see in a few years which ones breakthrough and which ones don't.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Yulia Putintseva, Ashleigh Barty and Donna Vekic are standouts in terms of being able to win several $25Ks at such a young age (15/16 years old). Pretty much everyone knows about these three as they're constantly talked about here, although I guess Vekic is a bit more under the radar as her junior results are hardly stellar compared to her outstanding success in pro events. But all three of them are certainly heading in the right direction in their young careers. Of the 1993-1996 group these are the best three.

As for some of the others I pay attention to are Garbine Muguruza Blanco, Annika Beck, Carina Witthoeft, Irina Khromacheva, Elina Svitolina and Grace Min.

Players like Mladenovic, Garcia, Larcher de Brito and Tomljanovic and Diyas have been stalling forever. Although the latter two have been injured/sick I believe and are starting to get better results. But I really don't see any of them being top players.

Keys and Kontaveit are hardly living up to their hype with disappointing years so far, but they're both young. Townsend is doing great in juniors but hasn't played a professional event all year so it's really hard to gauge her potential.

As for 1997, Belinda Bencic and Veronika Kudermetova are really the two leading the field. Bencic has a 31-4 W/L 2012 record in juniors, winning two G1 events, and is currently ranked #21. Kudermetova reached the semifinals of a $25K in Moscow as a qualifier a few months ago.

Here are some players that are doing very well in challengers recently who nobody seemed to have mentioned and "fly under the radar" from all the TennisForum hype.

Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor from Spain (born 1992) is on a 17 match winning streak, winning two $25Ks as a qualifier and a $50K+H. She thrashed Khromacheva 6-1 6-1 in the $50K+H. She's currently ranked #215. I know this thread is only for 1993-1996, but Maria-Teresa was out injured for several months last year and after May 2011 she only played two $10Ks at the very end of the year after she had recovered. She virtually has no points to defend for the rest of 2012.

Margarita Gasparyan from Russia (born 1994) is on a 15 match winning streak, winning three $25Ks in a row in Moscow. She beat Gavrilova twice and Witthoeft in this run. She's currently ranked #287.

Anna-Lena Friedsam from Germany (also born 1994) is on a 18 match winning streak, winning a $10K and then two $25Ks in a row, both as a qualifier. She beat Vekic in Padova. She's currently ranked #285.

Some of these players I mentioned are bound to be "flops" like Flipkens, Zahlavova Strycova, Krajicek and Karatantcheva. But there are signs that a lot of them will become very good players in 3-4 years time. It'll be interesting to see in a few years which ones breakthrough and which ones don't.
I think you get too excited by 25k and 10k wins. Honestly, I wouldn't read to much into a 17 year olds results in 10k tournaments as an indication of whether or not they will have a successful career at WTA level. Players develop at different rates. Some of the 2020's best players are currently 15 to 17 year olds that right now nobody is noticing because they are not winning 25k or 10k events. But in 5 years they will have worked their way up into the top 100 and eventually beyond while some of today's young phenoms will have stalled.

It seems to me everyone is looking for the next teen phenom. But the fact is the real breakthroughs generally occur these days in players in their 20s.

I should also add, many of the players on this list would kill to be a "flop" like Zahlavova Strycova. A substantial number of these players won't even make the top 100. Meanwhile Strycova has already pocketed 2 million in prize money at 26 years old. As she is proving to be a fine doubles player I would expect that number to double or triple before her career finishes.
 
#32 · (Edited)
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

If there's anything I find discouraging about the 94/95/96 generations, it's that practically all of them are generic slow baseline power players. Not to say there aren't players that differ but my favorites from this generation haven't had the most encouraging results as of yet.
 
#33 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

If there's anything I find discouraging about most of this new generation, it's that practically all of them are generic slow baseline power players.
Well, who's fault is that? The older generation is teaching it.
 
#39 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

The first player on the list, Muguruza-Blanco has made Top 100 after reaching final of 100K in Bucharest, beating two Top 100 players. Slightly stuttered recently but on the whole has backed up the form she showed at Miami and moved forward. :)

Who will be next to join her? ;) not much else to report from the others, Omae has dropped out of Top 250 but Ivakhnenko, who recently qualified in Palermo, and Friedsham, who has won five tournaments this year, have made Top 250 and are now near the mark for Grand Slam qualifying.
 
#50 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Noone wrote about Ons Jabeur????
I haven't included Jabeur currently since I've tried to keep it within players in the Top 250, where they are nearing qualifying level for grand slams. Jabeur is Top 300 but I guess we will see if she has any potential at the Olympics, where she's the youngest player involved in it.
 
#43 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

If McHale, Stephens, Robson and Watson could get far in Slams, the WTA would be safe for a while.

Most of its market is in the Western world and it's much easier to root for Western girls than random Eastern Europeans.
Truth hurts but it's the reality.
 
#44 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

If McHale, Stephens, Robson and Watson could get far in Slams, the WTA would be safe for a while.

Most of its market is in the Western world and it's much easier to root for Western girls than random Eastern Europeans.
Truth hurts but it's the reality.
Morrissey has been pretty much saying the same thing but for some reason he gets excoriated for it. :scratch:
 
#47 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

OR people know but bring up Sharapova cause she's the last teen to do it and be a top player..

The shortage in teenage phenoms is really startling but I guess that's what happens when players can't play whereever, whenever.
 
#51 ·
Re: Is the 1993-1996 generation about to breakthrough?

Bump.

Thought I should do an update of this thread.

Robson was the standout teen of the US Open, beating Clijsters and Li with some excellent power hitting. It's going to be interesting to see if she can join Stephens and be inside the Top 50 by the end of the year.

Stephens had another solid slam, her third consecutive slam where she reached at least the 3rd round. Missed opportunity though to beat Ivanovic and she still has quite a few holes in her game. No points to defend till the Australian Open though so has a shot of hitting the Top 30.

From the rest, the other standout was Mladenovic, reaching the 3rd round, beating Pavlyuchenkova along the way. Will be interesting to see if she can carry this form on, or if she will go back to stagnating, which had been doing the entire year TBH before the US Open.

Special mention to Samantha Crawford. Outside Top 300 atm, but qualified into the main draw and won the juniors, could be one to watch from the '95 generation.
 
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