Most of the stories on the coming 2010 season will probably center on the returning bigwigs as they contest among themselves the Big Four tournaments in tennis.
A considerable amount of attention will focus on the new generation of up and coming stars who are poised to make their breakthroughs next year.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova will be one of the players whose careers will be put under the unforgiving spotlight next season. The anointed inheritor of the legacy created by her Slam-winning compatriots is expected to start delivering on her potential.
She had her first full season in 2008 and next year, the bar of expectations will be placed a notch higher.
Her path to greatness kicked off to a good start with good results in the major tournaments at Indian Wells and Tokyo. Early exits in other tournaments proved that the Russian is still a tennis heavyweight in training. The burden on Pavyluchenkova’s shoulders is to now improve on those results and bag her maiden trophy probably in a small tournament later in the season. The short term goal is consistency; the long-term one is winning her first title. Anything less than that would be unsatisfactory.
The preordained target endpoints may seem too much to ask for any run of the mill struggling young tennis player. For the former junior world champion and three-time junior Slam champ, however, they are almost imperative. The window of opportunity is slim for touted future tennis queens. Once derailed, the promise may turn into a curse. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is known to be harsh on tennis prodigies who never live up to their potential, as probably Nicole Vaidisova and Jelena Dokic know too well.
Complicating matters is Melanie Oudin, who is breathing down on Anastasia’s neck. Hopefully, the burgeoning rivalry will only push both to perform better. The American drew the first blood by winning their first meeting as pros and future encounters could prove to be worth watching.
Giant-killing skills that Pavlyuchenkova displayed against Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic may indicate that the Russian could handle the expectations without any problem.
Her place in history is in her hands as the journey continues next year.
jc valencia writes about tennis in his blog Destination: Doha
Sweet P will have a good year if she stays within her game – last yr at @bnpopen she was playing so well … Merry Xmas
Jelena Dokic and especially Nicole Vaidišová still have time to live up to their potential!
There’s so much pressure on these young kids. I am reliably informed that Mouratoglu has given Pavlyuchenkova a: perform or your out ultimatuum….
I seen her lose to Vinci’s old fashioned serve and volley game at Wimbledon. The wise head won out on the day and Pavlyuchonkova looked frustrated.
So many of these young stars have sprung up then withered just as fast. You have to feel for them. The competition for places is fierce at the top end of the rankings, even more so next season with Clijsters and Henin around. Top 25 would be a superb achievement for Pavlychenkova in 2010 IMO.