Tennis’ new superstars!

The timing of it all hardly could be more symbolic Within a span of two weeks Serena Williams plays what is believed to be her last match at age 40 Roger Federer announces hersquoll be retiring at 41 Iga Swiatek wins her third Grand Slam title at 21 and Carlos Alcaraz gets his first at 19After so much handwringing in recent years about what would become of tennis once transcendent superstars such as Williams and Federer leave the gamemdashhe told the world on Thursday he will exit after the Laver Cup next week she made her plans public last month then lost in the third round of the US Open on September 2mdashthe sport does seem to be in good hands as it prepares to move onYoungsters to the foreldquoThey helped mold tennis into what it is today We will miss themrdquo Nick Bollettieri a Hall of Fame coach said about Federer and Williams ldquoHaving these youngsters being No1rdquo said Bollettieri who worked with the Williams sisters Andre Agassi Jim Courier Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova among others ldquois going to make a big difference for the toursrdquoAlso Read Is coach Patrick Mouratoglou to blame for tennis star Simona Haleprsquos divorceFirst of all letrsquos not forget Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are still aroundmdasheven if injuries in Nadalrsquos case and vaccination status in Djokovicrsquos case have limited their ability to compete at their best or always They combined to win three of the yearrsquos four Grand Slam titles boosting Nadalrsquos total to 22 the most for a man and Djokovicrsquos to 21 Williams has 23 and Federer 20 and both have dozens of other trophies Olympic medals hundreds of weeks at No1 in the rankings and so onNot just statisticsThey are standardbearers not merely because of such statistics Williams became a celebrity as much as a recordbreaking athlete and someone who helped expand the sportrsquos audience while inspiring plenty of kids to take up tennis Federer became a widely respected ambassador of the game attracting fans and new players from around the globe tooNow some of those fresh faces are prepared to step into the space that will open up for new champions new primetime slots on TV new sponsorship deals new interest One never knows how things will go in sports of course or what might happen in terms of injuries say or other potential roadblocks to a long and distinguished career but Swiatek and Alcaraz sure do appear to be set up for successFrom their athleticism and shotmaking to their on and offcourt demeanors to the teams that surround themmdashboth work with a sports psychologist for examplemdashthey are preternaturally matureSwiatek No 1 since Ash Bartyrsquos retirement six months ago is the first woman to win two Grand Slam titles in a single season since 2016 Alcaraz No1 since Monday is the youngest man to occupy that spot since the computerized rankings began in 1973 Hersquos also the first teenager to win the US Open menrsquos championship since Pete Sampras in 1990Plenty of talentWith those two at the forefront and plenty of other talent aroundmdashNaomi Osaka and Coco Gauff Frances Tiafoe and Jannik Sinner Casper Ruud and Ons Jabeur and so onmdashtennis just might be able to survive Thrive Could beAlso Read Most incredible ride Serena Williams bows out of TennisThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever