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Where is Australia's next star?

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Yoda_

Yoda_

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So, with the recent poor results of Australian players, and a host of 'Australian' players merely competing under the Australian flag.

The rankings speak for themselves really.

Here is the woman's and the men's rankings.

54. Lleyton Hewitt (29)
138. Marino Matosevic (25)
148. Peter Luczak (32)
158. Carsten Ball (24)
185. Matthew Ebden (24)
199. Bernard Tomic (19)
203. John Millman (22)
214. Brydan Klein (22)
253. Greg Jones (22)
259. Samuel Groth (24)
328. Joseph Cirriani (36)
342. James Lemke (23)
343. Dayne Kelly (21)
351. Chris Guccione (26)
385. Colin Ebelthite (27)
393. Junaid Rameez (30)
455. Matt Reid (20)

So only two teenagers in the top 500. Pretty poor effort from Australia on the mens side of things.

For the womans, it fairs a little better.

6. Sam Stosur (26)
34. Jammila Groth (24)
67. Anastasia Rodionova (29)
123. Sophie Ferguson (25)
135. Alicia Molik (30)
137. Jelena Dokic (27)
151. Sally Peers (20)
228. Casey Delacqua (26)
244. Johanna Konta (21)
249. Jessica Moore (21)
259. Olivia Rogowska (20)
300. Tammi Paterson (21)
329. Sophie Letcher (19)
340. Monique Adamzac (28)
381. Shannon Golds (25)
388. Marija Mirkociv (21)
401. Alison Bai (21)
426. Issabella Holland (19)
434. Karolina Wlodarczak (24)
453. Jade Hooper (20)
500. Monica Weijnert (19)

So, some potential in the womans department, but really, fairly bleak on the mens side.

Who do you think can pull some improvement like our Sammy has in the past three years?

Apart from the obvious, Bernard Tomic, who else could do it?
 
 
The public have heard it all before, 'player x our next big star!' The truth of the matter I believe is that our youngsters don't get out as much as they should. You look at the explosion of Russian females a little while ago now. They and their parents made the sacrifices to enable them to become stars. Moving to academys alone, saving every last penny to ensure security. Kids here expect everything to be handed to them. Tomic is showing why he was given a wildcard, but he expected it. Make these kids work for success, it doesn't fall in your lap.
 
Kubler and Tomic will be at least top 20 within a few years (may take up to 4-5 years), and it's been a while since we have had 2 top 20 players in the mens (Rafter and Hewitt?), so that won't be too bad.

The women's side of the situation isn't as worrying, Sam will be top 10 for the next 4-5 years if she stays fit, and Groth can get inside the top 15 or so, but maybe not the top 10.

The young girls, like Rogowska, Peers, Letcher, Holland and Weinjert therefore can "take their time" and develop without the pressure of a nation waiting for a top women's player to come through.

I'd expect at least 2 of those womens' names to "make it" fairly big.
 

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Funkalicous said:
Have some patience. They're coming. But gone are the days of teenage players ranked in the top 100.

To answer your question:
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/jason-kubler <- Will be better than Tomic
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/ben-mitchell
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/james-duckworth
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/luke-saville

http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/olivia-rogowska <- This one just needs more time.
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/sally-peers
http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/monika-wejnert <- Hopefully this one comes good :p
Click to expand...


apart from Tomic, you might have missed the best one:

http://www.tennis.com.au/player-profiles/ashleigh-barty
http://www.theage.com.au/sport/tennis/the-next-big-thing-20101120-181y3.html
 
riteo said:
Our only chance is to keep "importing" talent from overseas and hoping they come good.
Click to expand...
That's silly. You don't know what's around the corner.

Mid-90s people were saying the same things - the only guys winning things were the Woodies, it was 10 years since we'd won the Davis Cup and we hadn't had a competitive player in Grand Slams since Cash retired. The only young player we had was Rafter, and he was looking like he'd turned out to be another Fromberg-type journeyman.

Then some guy in a stupid headscarf beat Sampras at the Aussie Open, Rafter took his game up about three levels, and this rat kid from Adelaide won his hometown Hardcourts. Heck, even Stoltenberg and Woodbridge somehow made Wimbledon semifinals in the late 90s. 1997-2001 ended up being the best five years for Australian tennis since Edmondson retired.

Sure, Tennis Australia needs a bit of a shakeup, but the talent's out there. The young guys will come along eventually.
 
14 year old Ashleigh Barty just lost her first round girls singles match to 3rd seed Lauren Davis 6-0 6-3. I guess its a pretty good experience for Barty, drawing Davis, who you will recall lost to Stosur in the first round of the main draw. Highlights how large the jump from juniors is though. Davis is a big fish in this pond.
 

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Tennis is a funny sport. Just because a player is great in the juniors, there is certainly no guarantee they will make it on the ATP/WTA tours. For the guys, I think Tomic, Kubler and Ben Mitchell will be our top 100 players in the next few years.
 
It's not just tennis. Check out the winning FA Youth Cup teams from 5-10 years ago - very few of those players end up having careers of much substance.

In general, youth sport is very different from the professional game.
 
Caesar said:
It's not just tennis. Check out the winning FA Youth Cup teams from 5-10 years ago - very few of those players end up having careers of much substance.

In general, youth sport is very different from the professional game.
Click to expand...

Including two of Bigfooty's favorites, Cricket and Footy
 

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Where is Australia's next star?

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