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Ashleigh Barty is another youngster making confident strides after her thunderous doubles performances at the year’s first Slam. Junior Wimbledon champion in 2011, Barty just turned 17 this April and she already is a Grand Slam doubles runner-up, which she achieved in Melbourne with Casey Dellacqua. The 185th ranked Aussie followed up her Slam final appearance with a last-eight showing in Kuala Lumpur and set up a second round meeting with Maria Kirilenko at the French capital this year.
Caroline Garcia almost made the headlines a couple of years back when she nearly ousted Maria Sharapova in the Roland Garros second round. Her sterling performance even got a certification from Andy Murray as the future No. 1. With a 114 ranking, the 19-year-old is a diligent girl coming from the French talent reserve and her run was ended in the second round this year by Serena Williams.
18-year-old Ukrainian Elina Svitolina is another fledgling talent gradually climbing up the ladder. The 2010 junior French Open winner, who had made it to the Cali semi-finals back in February, holds the 90th position in the world rankings and she was stopped by Varvara Lepchenko in the French Open second round. Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, famous for getting embroiled into controversies, was the 2010 US Open runner-up and she has been making her ascendancy for quite some time. The 18-year-old World No. 98 reached the Brussels pre-quarterfinals and followed it up by a second round loss to the accomplished clay-courter, Sara Errani, on the Parisian terre battue.
That brings us to Garbine Muguruza, who has been holding the fort against some prominent players on the Tour for quite some time. Perched at No. 72 in the rankings, the Spanish 19-year-old continued her winning spree at Miami by ousting Caroline Wozniacki and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. That was her second consecutive pre-quarterfinal appearance after Indian Wells a fortnight earlier. Muguruza, who is scheduled to have an ankle surgery post-Wimbledon, lost to the in-form Jelena Jankovic in the second round in Paris.
Some of the gifted young girls, however, were not so successful as the 2011 girls US Open winner Grace Min, 2012 Tashkent runner-up Donna Vekic and Lauren Davis, who made it to two quarter-finals this season, all had to bite the dust in the first round. The biggest disappointment was the British 19 year-old Laura Robson. Having delivered stunning upsets at the last two Slams, she flattered to deceive in Paris.
It is indeed refreshing to see so many teenagers trying to carve out their niche in the competitive world of tennis. Does that mean this bunch of passionate and talented racquet-swinging teens will soon take over the rankings in an age dominated by the oldest World No. 1 called Serena Williams? That does not look quite feasible when tennis is witnessing a power era where hard-hitting skills, supreme fitness and mental fortitude are simultaneously required to sustain at the highest echelons. And it becomes more prominent when the Grand Slam record books show that since 19-year-old Maria Sharapova’s US Open success in 2006, not a single teen has excelled in a major final.
Definitely, maturity is the mantra for success for these teenaged girls arriving on the scene with dreams in their eyes. Talking about Eugenie Bouchard, Maria Sharapova explains it succinctly, “But when you’re at that point in your career, every month is a learning experience for someone her age and at that level. You have to respect anyone that’s across the net from you. There is a reason why they’re there, whether they have had a good week or a bad week or they’re not having a good month or they’re having a great month.”
Sharapova is right. The unflinching will to learn, develop and mature is what will take these industrious girls forward in their pursuit of eternal glory on the big stage.
