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Message: [QUOTE="CamrnCrz1974, post: 2012095, member: 1052"] The concern is that we have seen this before, with American female tennis players who were groomed/hyped to be potential successors to the Williams sisters. But no one has truly stepped up. The last American not named Venus or Serena to win a GS title? Jennifer Capriati (2002 Australian Open). The last American not named Venus or Serena to make the final of a GS tournament? Lindsay Davenport (2005 Australian Open). Since then, Melanie Oudin made the 2009 US Open quarterfinals, Sloane Stephens made the 2013 Australian Open semifinals, Bethanie Mattek-Sands made the fourth round of the 2013 French Open, Madison Keys made the 2015 Australian Open semifinals, CoCo Vandeweghe made the 2015 Wimbledon quarterfinals, etc. And now Coco Vandeweghe has made the 2016 Australian Open semis. But none has had a consistent breakthrough, in terms of being a GS title contender. Keys, however, is the best bet, as she followed up her 2015 Aussie Open performance with making the quarterfinals at 2015 Wimbledon and making at least the Round of 16 of the next five GS tournaments she played (2015 US Open and all 2016 Grand Slams). She is currently injured and missed this year's Australian Open, but is currently ranked in the top 10. But she is only 21 years old (she turns 22 next month) With Coco, the power was always there. The control, however, was not. In a way, she reminded me of an early Mary Pierce...fierce competitor with great power who could never quite harness her emotions and had a tendency to let her groundstrokes spray when she got into a funk. But in the last 13 months, Coco has six wins over Top 10 players (two at the 2016 Australian). And she is 25 years old, turning 26 later this year. I do not see her as a threat on clay. But with that big serve, and if she can harness the consistency like she did here, I could see the potential for her to be a threat at Wimbledon and at Flushing Meadows. Time will tell, however. When Davenport, Capriati, Venus, and Serena were on the scene together and winning majors (circa 1998-2002), Mary Carillo dubbed the new generation "Big Babe Tennis." She felt that players such as Martina Hingis, who was very crafty but lacked the booming serve and power in her groundstrokes, would have a much more difficult time. And she was right. Hingis did not win another major after the 1999 Australian Open (and at the time, those four only had a total of one major; since then, they won a combined 35 majors). [/QUOTE]

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