Changes in WTA tour means the days of child stars are gone, which is why 17-year-old’s achievements are so significant
There are only two teenage players currently in the top 100 of the WTA rankings. Women’s tennis, in some ways, was built on the success of its legendary child prodigies – from Chris Evert and Monica Seles to Martina Hingis and the Williams sisters – players who audaciously stormed towards the top of the sport in their youth without fear or favour, demanding attention from the world.
Those days are long gone. Between the improved depth, physicality and professionalism at the lower levels of the sport, possibly a more sparse talent pool and the WTA’s age eligibility rules restricting the number of tournaments a child can contest, it is increasingly more difficult for female tennis players to flit up the rankings so early in their development.
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