by Charles Diaz So, if you are a newbie to tennis, and don't know a thing about it, you'd probably be wondering who is the best in tennis. Of course there are names like Steffi Graf, a legend, and others like Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Jana Novotna and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. But if you are a follower, haven't you noticed the decline of these names? In the 1998 Wimbledon Championships, Jana Novotna, a Czech veteran seeded third, won. However, despite her win, the media did not praise her like the young Swiss miss Martina Hingis, ranked number one. In fact, Novotna was underrated and seeded fifth this year in Wimbledon despite her victory. So where's all the attention headed? One answer. The Tennis "teen queens". Why? They're young and attract the young followers of tennis. They are also the future of the sport, and it looks really promising with the talents of the few. Of course there's the number one ranked player, Martina Hingis, who is still only eighteen years of age with already five grand slam titles. Lindsay Davenport, a veteran of the sport, ranked number two has only won one grand slam title, which was the US Open. A dynamic duo contributing to this "teen queen" hysteria are the Williams sisters of the US. Venus Williams, a teen herself, is ranked number five in the world with seven titles, including back-to-back year championships of the Lipton, beating of course, another teen queen, Anna Kournikova. This year's 1999 Lipton, Venus won and beat her own sister, Serena. Other dangerous players, like Mirjana Lucic, a Croat, upset Monica Seles this year to advance to the next round in Wimbledon. Not only are these "teen queens" owning the titles, they are also owners of the spotlight. Just ask Anna Kournikova, despite her misfortunes to capture her first career title, the spotlight of the media has been on her, simply because of her beauty. Already she has male followers supporting her in matches screaming their heads off. Jelena Dokic a resident of Sydney Australia at the age of 16 too, has had more than her fair share of the spotlight. In this year's Wimbledon, she beat Martina Hingis in the first round to advance, and she has been the hot story of Wimbledon ever since. Martina Hingis too has had her share of the spotlight. She has had numerous endorsements in commercials, and magazines such as the GQ magazine. Davenport has expressed her disgust for advertising the sport of tennis through looks. But Hingis and Kournikova disagreed and stated that it benefitted tennis and it's popularity. So is the future of tennis in good hands? I'd think so. Despite their extreme media attention, they really do have talent. Who would have expected Jelena Dokic, a mere qualifier to go so far in Wimbledon? These teens are winning titles, and not because of their looks, but because of their raw talent. Of course legends like Steffi Graf will forever remain legend, but it's like what everyone says, "out with the old, and in with the new." |
