Topic: WTA's Lost Generation

[Babblelot]

Interesting footnote to Serena's long run of domination: there was a lost generation.

Nicole Vaidisova In 2004, her first full season as a professional, Vaidisova became the sixth-youngest champion in WTA at the Tier V event in Vancouver, aged 15 years, three months and 23 days. Behind her strong serve and attacking baseline game, Vaidisova looked to be the next champion who had been groomed of the courts of the Bollettieri academy.

Despite being born in 1989, Vaidisova was a force on the senior circuit while her contemporaries were still playing juniors. When she made the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2006, defeating Amelie Mauresmo and Venus Williams along the way, Caroline Wozniacki was the second seed in the junior event, players including Dominika Cibulkova and Ekaterina Makarova were unseeded there, and Agnieszka Radwanska won the title; in addition, Victoria Azarenka was the 2005 ITF Junior World Champion. Vaidisova reached her second Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in 2007, and peaked at No. 7 in May of that year...Vaidisova suffered from mononucleosis in late 2007 and her form took a nosedive; she officially retired in 2010, as her stepfather stated she was “fed up with tennis” and that it was “understandable” because “she started so young.”

Also in 2007, the trio of Anna Chakvetadze, Tatiana Golovin and Agnes Szavay arrived.

Agnes Szavay has officially retired from professional tennis due to lingering back issues...After starting the season ranked No. 189, Szavay ended it ranked No. 20. For her efforts, she was named the 2007 WTA Newcomer of the Year.

Anna Chakvetadze The Russian burst on the scene in 2004 as well, when she qualified and defeated reigning Roland Garros champion Anastasia Myskina in the first round of the US Open. Following a steady rise, she won her biggest career title at the Tier I event in Moscow in late 2006; on the back of a quarterfinal in Australia in 2007, she made her top 10 debut in February. Another quarterfinal at Roland Garros, a semifinal at the US Open and four titles put her among the elite at the 2007 Year-End Championships in Madrid. She is one of only a handful of players who can boast a win over both Williams sisters...Chakvetadze, after being tied up and robbed (pretty scary s**t) in 2007, dealt with a whole host of injuries; she too is currently sidelined with a recurring back injury.

Tatiana Golovin Golovin burst on to the scene very early in her professional career, reaching the fourth round in her debut at the 2004 Australian Open and winning the mixed doubles with Richard Gasquet at their home slam in Paris later that year. She boasted an impressive all court game, also highlighted by a lethal forehand. Inconsistency followed, but Golovin found form late in 2006, when she reached her first, and only, Grand Slam quarterfinal at the US Open. She captured her two career WTA titles in 2007, finished runner-up to Justine Henin in two big events in the fall indoor season, and ended that year as World No. 13...Golovin has been inactive since due to chronic lower back inflammation, and has ruled out a return.

http://www.tennisgrandstand.com/2013/02/07/the-wtas-lost-girls/

[HarryWild]

Is Nicole Vaidisova the lady that married touring pro Radek Stepanek? 

[Babblelot]

Yes

[Litotes]

Interesting footnote to Serena's long run of domination: there was a lost generation.

Yes, and her own generation has also been hard hit. Hingis left far to soon - after all these years, she is still the one from her generation with most weeks as #1. Both Belgians disappeared too soon, as did Myskina.

Btw, I wouldn't speak about "long run of domination". She dominated 2002 - early 2003. Since then she's more often than not been one of the top figures, but never dominated. Even when she topped the rankings in 2009 she was never very far ahead of #2. And as late as 2008, before the first retirement, her younger competitor Justine Henin had better career stats than her.