Photo taken from itftennis.com
In my view years 2000, 2001 and 2002 were very generous to girls’ tennis, possibly even too generous. In this lapse of time several very good players were born: so good that all of them left the junior tour far before reaching major age; thus, I think that, currently, the Junior Tour is kind of… empty. Let’s consider that, starting from the younger (who would be entitled to play on the junior Tour for further two years and a half) – year 2002 Kostyuk and Osuigwe; year 2001 Potapova, Swiatek, Anisimova and Danilovic; year 2000 Andreescu, Juvan and Liu (and I may have missed some others) – all these players have already fully transitioned to the pro tour; some of them we may see playing in the Junior Slams. While it’s quite normal that girls born in 2000 have already fully started their pro career, the departure of the 2 girls born in 2002 and of the three born in 2001 represents a severe drain from the Junior Tour. Looking at the current ranking, one may notice that: ranks 1 (Osuigwe), 3 (Kostyuk), 5 (Liu), 10 (Anisimova), 13 (Juvan), 19 (Danilovic – but she was 8 until a week ago) are not playing in the Juniors: this means that, had I written this article one week ago, half of the best 13 players (and, still now, three of the five highest ranked) would have been actually “missing”. If one then gives a further look, he realizes that – and I say this with all due respect – current rank 6 Osorio Serrano has lost during last year: 4-6 4-6 vs. Kostyuk (and that’s fine) 0-6 1-6 against Juvan, 2-6 4-6 (twice) against Anisimova, 4-6 3-6 against Anshba. Current n 2 Liang was beaten one year ago 3-6 1-6 by 14 year old “Crazy” Marta Kostyuk. Honestly, these figures indicate something: and I could carry on, but I don’t want to get boring.
Up to now, I found only one suitable substitute to the girls who left: a player who can or, being her very young, in a few year time could, compete with the “missing” ones: she is Cori Gauff. But she, too, basically never plays in Juniors, having competed only in two events, from January to up to the present. I found other girls pleasant to watch: Cocciaretto is good fun, Burel too; but what would happen in a match Cocciaretto vs. Kostyuk or Cocciaretto vs. Swiatek? Honestly, I wouldn’t bet a penny on the Italian (I mean, sorry, but that’s what I feel).
But: surprise, surprise! maybe there is another girl who can fill a bit of the hole the “departed ones” left: she is Clara Tauson and her results are outstanding. I’ve never seen this girl playing, but our Director did and he wrote that that Danish kid alternates from blackouts to top notch tennis (Igaaaa!!!).
Clara Touson was born in December 2002: even if she is thus a “sort of 2003”, she already ranks 11th in the Junior Tour. But that’s not all. Clara has approached the pro tour last September (i.e. at 14), as she started to play some 15k: in her first attempt she reached the semifinals in Antalya, losing to Amina Anshba (3-6 0-6: it was easy for Amina); the second attempt in Stockholm was even better, as she reached the finals, never dropping a set in her previous matches and losing only 5 games per match in the second round, quarters and semis; the third attempt, again in Stockholm, was the good one, as she eventually won, not having at the time yet turned 15. It also seems that her home country has some expectations on Clara, as in April 2017 she debuted in Fed Cup.
In the Junior Tour, Clara has been kind of dominating since the beginning: her first attempt was a Grade 4 and she lost in the second round. Then she won a Grade 5 and reached two consecutive finals in further Grades 4. The Danish girl decided thus to step up to Grades 3 and 2 and, after having missed a couple of times the main draw (well, let’s give her a month to adjust…) she alternated finals and wins in further Grades 4 to early losses in higher-graded tournaments. In last July there was the turning point: Clara reached her first final in a Grade 2 in Germany, having beaten Alexa Noel and Margarita Bylokin in the process; soon after she was beaten in the semifinal of a Grade 1 by Cocciaretto and then reached the quarter finals in the last Eddie Herr, being defeated 5-7 4-6 by Osuigwe. Soon after, she collected a final in the Brazilian Grade A (she won the doubles event anyway), a win in the Grade 1 Perin and a win in the Grade 2 in Florence, the tournament on which the Director spoke so much. Basically, from July up to now this girl has reached at least the semifinal in whatever tournament she played (with the exception of Eddie Herr, where no. 1 in the world stopped her in the quarters) and, before July, even if she was losing early in higher-graded tournaments, she kept winning Grades 4. I can understand when Franco speaks about blackout of a player, being myself used to Iga Swiatek: but yet, as it happens for Iga, it seems that, even if this girl may badly lose from time to time, it’s quite easy for her to win 5 or 6 matches in a row and thus to win tournaments. Do we have a new Swiatek? Actually, up to now her results are even better. I hope I will be able to see her in Bonfiglio and write a piece on her game. Though, having seen her “cv”, I would be quite surprised if she didn’t fill at least part of the hole.
