10 Tennis Players Who Could Take Over The Sport

Last Monday, Marin Cilic became just the third tennis player outside what has become known as the sport€™s 'Big Four' €“ Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray €“ to win a grand slam event since 2005. A year ago, Cilic was handed a nine-month, back-dated ban for "incautious use of glucose" having failed a urine test in Munich a few months earlier. The suspension was due to conclude in February 2014, but Cilic, who blamed the test result on glucose tablets purchased from a pharmacy by one of his team, appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. CAS believed his punishment was overly severe, reducing the length of the ban to four months and allowing the player to fully participate in the 2014 season. Cilic grabbed the opportunity with both hands, spending his enforced absence honing his formidable serve and employing former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic to help him develop the skills and mentality required to properly harness and utilise his gifts. Despite reaching the semi-final of the Australian Open in 2010 at the tender age of 21, Cilic had failed to make the most of his considerable talent until he finally broke his major duck by lifting the US Open trophy. Whether or not this means the Croat will go on to dominate the sport remains to be seen €“ Novak, Rafa, Roger and Andy will have plenty to say about that, probably for a few years yet. Nevertheless, several eye-opening results and surges from certain players this year have shown that tennis is in a transitional period; the old guard cannot stay around forever. Numerous contenders are primed and ready to stake their claim to be the sport€™s next dominant force, from established players like Cilic for whom everything is clicking into place to young tour players rocketing up the rankings to promising neophytes most people have never heard of. Here are ten players to keep an eye on.