The Most Promising Young Players to Watch on the WTA Tour
With Serena and Venus Williams winding up their careers and Maria Sharapova's future in doubt, the WTA Tour could use some promising young stars to emerge from the pack.
Tennis fans are in luck. This year, several talented young players are making moves up the rankings. They represent the United States, Latvia, Switzerland, Ukraine, Serbia, Russia and Japan.
Their styles range from bomb-serving big hitters to sneaky shot-makers.
All of the players on this list are 21 or younger and ranked inside the Top 100. Most of them are at or near their career highs. Half of them are ranked higher than Eugenie Bouchard and Heather Watson, two older players touted as future stars. Five of these promising young players are teenagers.
So what constitutes promise?
Players on an upward trajectory show promise. They are winning titles and playing through qualifiers into main draws. They've pulled off an upset over a Top 20 player.
Young American Catherine Bellis showed some promise when she upset Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the 2014 U.S. Open at age 15. Bellis is still quite young. However, she's ranked No. 262 and enjoys American media hype. Backed by the USTA, Bellis receives wild cards to events like Stanford and the Miami Open. She's not on this list.
But No. 95 Naomi Osaka is. Although her run at the 2016 Australian Open officially ended against Victoria Azarenka in the third round, Osaka won five matches, including qualifying rounds.
Osaka, 18, and other lesser-known talents are among the most promising young players on the WTA Tour.
Honorable Mentions
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Samantha Crawford, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Ivana Jorovic get honorable mentions.
This year, Crawford, 21, reached the final at Brisbane. Ranked No. 107, Crawford will reach another career high (No. 101) when the rankings come out next week.
Jorovic, 18, is the latest talented tennis player to emerge from Serbia. Runner-up at the 2015 French Open, she's won nine titles on the lower-level ITF Tour.
Schmiedlova, 21, is ranked No. 31. However, she's an honorable mention and not on the most promising list because she is 2-9 this year and has lost eight of her last nine matches. Defending champion at the Katowice Open, Schmiedlova lost in the first round.
Naomi Osaka
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Last year, Osaka defeated Caroline Garcia to take the title at the WTA Rising Stars Invitational.
Two years ago, at age 16, Osaka upset U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. Osaka was ranked No. 406 at the time.
She's at a career-high No. 95 and still climbing.
This year she advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open where she lost to Victoria Azarenka. She beat Sara Errani in straight sets in Miami. It was the first time she'd reached the third round of a WTA Tour Premier event.
Yulia Putintseva
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Putintseva, 21, has similar size and tenacity to Dominika Cibulkova. At 5'4", Putintseva is shorter than most WTA players. However, she's aggressive.
Never intimidated, she pushed Serena Williams to a first-set tiebreaker at Indian Wells. Putintseva upset Caroline Wozniacki at the Australian Open.
In Charleston, after dropping the second set 1-6 to Venus Williams, Putintseva came back from a breakdown in the third to take the match.
Feisty and resilient, Putintseva has the game and personality that will make her a crowd-pleaser for years to come.
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Margarita Gasparyan
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Margarita Gasparyan, 21, is ranked No. 47. At 6'0", 161 pounds, she's an imposing figure on the court.
But it's hard to break through the crowd of players from Russia, where Sharapova grabs most of the headlines. Fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova has two Grand Slams, and teenager Daria Kasatkina is ranked higher.
Gasparyan upset Sara Errani in the first round of the Australian Open. She reached the fourth round, where she lost to Serena Williams in 44 minutes.
Gasparyan appeared nervous and overwhelmed. However, she got herself into a position to play No. 1. That's invaluable experience.
Jelena Ostapenko
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Going into the Katowice Open in Prague, Jelena Ostapenko had a losing record (7-8). She also lost her first match in qualifying rounds in Miami.
So how did this 18-year-old wind up seeded third at Katowice, ahead of such names as Dominika Cibulkova, Francesca Schiavone, Alize Cornet and Heather Watson?
Last month, Ostapenko reached the finals at the Qatar Open in Doha. En route to her first WTA Tour final, Ostapenko defeated Zarina Diyas, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Andrea Petkovic and two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova before losing to Carla Suarez Navarro.
Sitting at a career-high ranking of No. 38, Ostapenko will move up even more after defeating Timea Babos to reach the semifinals at Katowice.
Daria Kasatkina
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Daria Kasatkina, 18, is enjoying the best year of her career.
She reached the quarterfinals in Charleston where she had match point against Sloane Stephens before losing in three sets.
Winner of the French Open and U.S. Open in juniors in 2015, Kasatkina has that easy power needed to take on the likes of Azarenka and Serena Williams.
She reached the quarterfinals at Indian Wells, where she lost to Karolina Pliskova. This year she has wins against Venus Williams, Cibulkova and Timea Bacsinszky.
Already at a career high at No. 35, Kasatkina's performance in Charleston will see her rise even higher when the new rankings come out next week.
Madison Keys
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Madison Keys carries the blessing and burden that comes with being a young American tennis star. The support from fresh-face-seeking American fans means more media attention.
However, the pressure that goes with that attention can be overwhelming. Ranked No. 22, Keys has struggled with injury and inconsistency this year.
She's gone through three coaching changes since December, including a brief arrangement with Mats Wilander.
Keys is still in search of her game.
Elina Svitolina
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Elina Svitolina, 21, is ranked No. 16 and reached a career high of No. 14 in March. Despite the steady presence in the Top 20, Svitolina, like Belinda Bencic, plays without the hype that usually follows young players on the Tour.
Four years ago, when she turned pro, the WTA staff asked the young Ukranian about her tennis idols growing up. "To be honest, I don't really have just one idol in women's tennis; it's more that I like strokes of some players, like the serve of Serena, and the groundstrokes of Kim Clijsters."
Belinda Bencic
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Belinda Bencic, 19, is the most accomplished of the promising young stars.
A quick thinker on the court, Bencic has fewer flaws than most young players.
Her most glaring weakness is an attackable serve. She has to take a page from Agnieszka Radwanska, who uses placement to make up for what she lacks in power.
Despite her Top 10 ranking, Bencic has yet to enjoy the attention given to Bouchard, Watson and Keys.
That's just fine for Bencic, who told the Post and Courier's Gene Sapakoff that she's comfortable flying under the radar.
“Well, I’m not recognized when I’m walking down the street. ... I don’t think I want that. Sometimes I think it must be pretty tough for Hollywood stars. I mean, you cannot go to the supermarket normally.”
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