Australian summer to showcase a host of young female tennis players on the rise

Former US Open champion Sam Stosur acknowledges that Australia’s elite male players are “hot right now”, but she cautions against discounting the wave of women on the horizon.

Former US Open champion Sam Stosur is predicting a bright tennis future for Australia’s emerging women, despite having only one player ranked inside the top 100 ahead of next month’s Australian Open.

Outnumbered by the Australian men nine to one in the world top 100, Stosur acknowledged the men were “hot right now” but was confident there was a new generation ready to make the “next jump” in what she described as the cyclical rankings.

Olivia Gadecki (No. 97) is currently the only Australian woman in the top-100, while Alex de Minaur (No. 9) leads three Aussie men in the top 30.

The Australian women, however, have four players – Daria Saville (108), Ajla Tomljanovic (109), Kimberly Birrell (113) and Maya Joint (116) – ranked just outside the top 100.

Stosur, the Australian Billie Jean King Cup captain, said the men were riding a “wave” at the moment, but believed the tide could quickly turn for the women.

“If you are looking at top-100 players and just looking at the numbers, sure, we’d love to be more where those guys are,” Stosur said.

Australian Billie Jean King Cup captain Sam Stosur. Picture: Liam Kidston

“But it’s not like it’s always been that way, either. Like anything, it’s cyclical. They’re hot right now, I think they are actually No. 1 in the world as far as (the number of) top 100 players go for a nation.

“That doesn’t happen all the time, so you have got to ride that wave when you have got it.

“We are obviously trying to get to that same spot. But if you look back a few years ago, perhaps, we certainly had closer to that.

“It goes around in cycles and we’ll get more players in the top-100. There are four between Olivia and Maya (Joint) …. so they win a few matches in the summer and all of a sudden we’ve got five in the top-100 and all of a sudden things look very different.”

Stosur pointed to rankings jumps for several players outside of the top 100 as evidence the health of the women’s game in Australia was “trending in the right direction”.

Australia’s top-ranked woman Gadecki climbed to a career-high ranking of 83 in October after starting the year at 124.

Talia Gibson, 20, hit a career-high 125 in November, up from 236 in January.

American-born Maya Joint, 18, was the biggest mover, reaching a career-high 110 in October after starting the year at 684.

“Overall, I really feel like it’s in a good spot and we’re moving forward,” Stosur said.

Australia's top-ranked player in the women’s singles rankings, Olivia Gadecki. Picture: Ulises Ruiz/AFP

“If you look at the 10 players between 100 and 200, they all had really big jumps in the rankings this past 12 months, so everyone is trending in the right direction.

“We’ve got a number of young players doing extremely well. So I think from Emerson Jones, who is only 16, through to maybe Olivia, who is 22, or Taylah Preston (19), they are all actually still very young in their careers and they are already knocking on the door.

“So it is already a matter of time before maybe one of those make that next jump and then they look at their peers and go ‘Oh, she’s done that, I can do that, too. I train with her every day, why can’t I be in that same position?’”

There is already plenty of excitement around Gold Coast teenager Jones, who was last week granted a main draw wildcard to the Australian Open.

Jones reached the girls’ singles finals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year and finished the season with victory at the ITF junior world tour finals.

Stosur said “pocket rocket” Jones was a standout for her age.

“Emerson is a pretty fearless young player at the moment,” Stosur said.

World junior No. 1 Emerson Jones has earned a wildcard to the Australian Open main draw.

“She is a bit of a pocket rocket. I think some people look at her stature and her height and (think) ‘What could she really do?’ and then you see her go out there and she hits the ball just as big as anyone else and goes for it and is fearless and is a really great competitor.”

Injury has not helped the rankings cause for some of Australia’s more seasoned campaigners.

Saville, 30, and Tomljanovic, 31, are both fighting back from injury-impacted campaigns in recent years.

“Ajla and ‘Dash’, they have been top-20, top-35 in the world, they have proven they are at that level and can be that player,” Stosur said.

“Dash has had such a rough trot her whole career with multiple injuries and not just little things that take you out for a week or two, they are substantial injuries that take a lot of time to recover from.

“To her credit, she has generally come back really quick and really well and got herself back to a really high level quickly. But when you have got to continually do that, it’s hard.

“She’s back and she’s healthy again now and ready to compete again week in and week out. Hopefully, touch wood, all of her major injuries are behind her, because she has certainly had enough of them.

Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic. Picture: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Daria Saville in action at the French Open. Picture: Clive Mason/Getty Images

“Ajla, the last two years as well with her knee has been rough, she came off her best season that she has ever had and now had a really interrupted couple of years.

“If you look at just those two players alone, if that maybe hadn’t happened, things look very different (in the rankings), too.

“Storm (Hunter) was having the time of her whole career being No. 1 in doubles, qualifying into the Open, making third round and then all of a sudden she is done for a year.

“Everyone has had their own journey and setbacks and it’s just a shame that for Australian tennis as a whole, we’ve had a few really major ones all at the same time.”

Originally published as Australian summer to showcase a host of young female tennis players on the rise