10 Young Tennis Players Guaranteed To Be on the Rise in 2012

2011 is coming to an end, so let's look at 10 young tennis players guaranteed to be on the rise next year on either the ATP or WTA circuit. 

Of the 10, who is likely to transition into a Grand Slam winner? Comment below with your opinion. 

There is only one prerequisite to be considered for this list:

• 21 years or younger. 

Sloane Stephens

Sloane Stephens is the next great American hope. 

At 18, she's the youngest player in the WTA top 100. 

I'm projecting her to have a better career than fellow American youngsters Christina McHale and Irina Falconi. 

Stephens held her own in a tough 6-3, 6-4 loss to Ana Ivanović during the U.S. Open third round. 

In the second round, she had blown Shahar Pe'er away in the first set before closing it out in a tiebreaker. 

She doesn't seem flustered by the bright lights and as long as she continues to work hard, she should improve rapidly on her current rank of world No. 96. 

Ričardas Berankis

Ričardas Berankis should look to the likes of Gastón Gaudio, Marcelo Ríos and Michael Chang, who all overcame a physical limitation—their height—to reach lofty heights. 

The biggest issue facing someone like Berankis would be failing to dictate terms of a tight game, as was evident during his 6-4, 7-6 loss in the San Jose quarterfinals to Milos Raonic.

From a technical perspective, Berankis is quite solid, and don't underestimate his power, as he returned a 229 km/h Raonic for a cold winner.  

Ashleigh Barty

Ashleigh Barty conjures up comparisons to Martina Hingis in that her game relies on tennis IQ and movement as opposed to flat-out power. 

According to David Taylor, she could be better than Hingis. 

Barty is only 15 and tennis aficionados will be acquainted with her name as she has qualified for the 2012 Australian Open. 

Grigor Dimitrov

Aside from pushing Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to four close sets during the second round of Wimbledon, Grigor Dimitrov hasn't really done much this year. 

When he's faced a quality opponent, he's generally been thoroughly outclassed. 

He was 2-13 against opponents ranked inside the Top 30. 

The positive is that he has steadily climbed the rankings to world No. 76 having meteorically risen from world No. 1,461 to world No. 482 when he was a teenager. 

Irina Khromacheva

Irina Khromacheva is the third Russian in six years to to claim the ITF Junior World Champion crown. 

If Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova can reach world No. 13, and she's a solid player who in the past has been troubled by fitness issues, I have no doubts that Khromacheva can achieve the same success. 

It will be interesting to see if Khromacheva decides against taking Belgian nationality as she trains at the Justine Henin Academy in Brussels. 

Ryan Harrison

To prepare himself for the rigors of senior tennis, Ryan Harrison trained five to seven hours a day. 

The hard work is paying off and the question is what type of player he will transition into.

Solid professional? Top 10-20 material? Grand Slam winner?  

Laura Robson

Laura Robson's year was disrupted by a hip and stomach muscle injury which cut her season by three months. 

She fought valiantly in losing efforts to Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon and Ana Ivanović at Tokyo.

2012 should be Robson's breakout year. 

Bernard Tomic

For all the controversy surrounding Bernard Tomic, the Mario Balotelli of tennis, he has lived up to the lofty expectations set for him. 

Here is a special player who is solid on both wings and is awkward for most players on tour to deal with. 

Certainly Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had issues dealing with Tomic. 

He is still a teenager and he needs to bulk up in order to survive on the tour. Tennis Australia should be catering to his needs because he is the future of Australian tennis. 

God forbid if his temperamental father forces his son to defect to Croatia. Therein lies a possible problem to Tomic's progression—his father. 

This could be Damir Dokić version two. Damir did more harm than good to Jelena's career. 

Irina-Camelia Begu

Irina-Camelia Begu was named the WTA Newcomer of The Year and she deserved it. 

2011 was a breakout year for her as she reached world No. 40 and reached two WTA finals. 

Given the fragmented nature of female tennis, Irina-Camelia Begu could surprise a few with a deep run at the French Open. 

Her clay court form has been excellent as she accumulated a 22-5 record. 

Milos Raonic

The real deal. 

At 21, he is one of the hardest-hitting players on the tour, and he's mobile too. 

Milos Raonic is a dark horse for a Grand Slam. 

Your Opinion

Which of these tennis players do you believe will have the most successful career? 

Comment below with a player you believe should be on this list. 

If you want to talk about tennis in general, feel free to comment. 

Please also read 10 Hilarious Tennis Quotes That Will Have You in Stitches.