A bright contingent of junior stars ready to shine:: San Diego Union Tribune

This story by Jerry Magee, a longtime tennis writer from San Diego, has a rather odd headline, but the first part contains an interesting look at the potential of two young tennis players, Coco Vandeweghe of San Diego and the world's top-ranked junior and US Open girls winner, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The first pro is underwhelmed by Pavlyuchenkova and believes Vandeweghe is more likely to hold her own with a pro, citing her July loss as a wild card in the WTA San Diego event.

I disagree, and not because I think Vandeweghe is deficient in potential or talent. What she's lacking, and Pavlyuchenkova is not, is competition, play. Despite the pro's assessment, Pavlyuchenkova has already won a small Futures event and two junior Grand Slams. That matters. That proves something. She can win. And that, after all, is what tennis is about. Not holding your own, or having talent, or being an athlete, but winning.

Vandeweghe could prove to be, as is alluded to here, another Serena Williams, who didn't play junior tennis or much of anything before she arrived on the pro circuit. And she would be just in time to take the place of another Southern California six-footer, Lindsay Davenport. But she'll need to win at some point, and Pavlyuchenkova is already in the habit of doing that.

I'm much more in the camp of the volunteer assistant at San Diego State, when he is asked his opinion of Pavlyuchenkova's game. But in five or six years, let's hope that we'll see both girls, having taken different paths, succeed in getting what they want from the game.