The 21 & Under Club: Caroline Dolehide

How do you follow the Greatest Generation? It’s a question tennis has tried to answer for at least a decade. Serena, Roger, Novak, Rafa: all of them are over 30, and they’ve combined to win 75 Grand Slam singles titles—but none of them are going away quietly. When they do, who will fill their very large shoes?

As you’ll see in The 21 & Under Club, the future of tennis is still coming, and coming soon. While it may not produce a 20-Slam winner, it’s clear that the game will be in good hands. Interesting hands, too: one thing we know for sure is that this new generation of players will infuse the tours with a wide and refreshing range of styles, personalities and backgrounds. When the Greatest Generation says goodbye, we can feel good about welcoming this cast of players to the courts.

Instagram: caroline_dolehide

Most-Liked Photo of 2019: Enjoying Australian brekkie

It’s impossible to watch Dolehide, just 20 but with a serve that may already be one of the game’s best, and not come away impressed.

“She definitely has a lot of talent,” said Venus Williams—double Dolehide’s age at the time—after defeating her in Montreal last summer. “I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before she’s able to play even better than today.”

While Dolehide may be receiving more post-loss compliments than she’d care to hear right now, time, along with a game-changing weapon, is on her side. She failed to get out of qualifying in Brisbane, the Australian Open and Hua Hin, but a return to home soil and to ITF-level tournaments helped the Illinois native regain her infectiously positive smile.

Outside the Top 200 at the start of May, Dolehide’s ranking belies her unteachable abilities.

“I think it’s important to realize that power players take a while longer to develop,” says former doubles No.1 Mark Knowles. “There will be stumbling blocks along the way, but she’s an outlier. Everybody on tour moves well, and everybody defends well—but there’s not a ton of players that play as offensively as Caroline does.”

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