Who will be the next to rise the bar?

Fresh off her maiden Grand Slam title, Petra Kvitova has been tipped to be the next 'big thing' in tennis and has set the bench mark for quality of play for others in her generation. With superb ball striking and a sensational lefty serve Kvitova has the promise to dominate the tour and continue to rise that bar to the outstanding level set by Serena Williams in 2002-03.

The question is when Kvitova does hit her peek will anyone be bale to poses the weapons and temperament to match her power hitting game?  A few names would spring to mind, Maria Sharapova, Andrea Petkovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Victoria Azarenka, Sabine Lisicki and well as a few more, naturally people assume current world number one Caroline Wozniacki. So who can create a rich rivalry with Petra Kvitova?

Maria Sharapova (rank 5, best 1, won 3 slams) Sharapova is recently hitting her old form after struggling with a shoulder issue since 2008. When Maria Sharapova was still struggling to get consistent results she was written off as ever being a danger again by some, after a disappointing Australain Open this year Maria quickly got her game together to make the semi final at Indian Wells, a final in Miami, win Rome, reach the semi's at Roland Garros and finish runner up at Wimbledon and quickly turn her career around. If Maria can continue to hold this form and keep it consistent she will defiantly continue to be a contender at slam and get a few more to her count and stick around for a few more years and reach the level set by Kvitova.

Andrea Petkovic (rank 11, best 11, 2 slam quarter finals) the German powerhouse may not be slam winning potential completly but get used to seeing her in the second week of slams. She has great ground strokes the only flaw I can pick is that she does not appear to be consistent on all surfaces, she has got the clay courts and the hard courts down, just need some grass practice.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (rank 13, best 13, 1 slam quarter final) all about potential, Pavlyuchenkova has only sort of lived up to her expectations at Roland Garros this year reaching the quarter finals and narrowly going down to Francesca Schiavone. The only question mark that looms over her is will she be able to reach
her full potential and challenge for slams in the future?

Victoria Azarenka (rank 4, best 4, 1 slam semi final) yet another potential filled young gun who never seems to live up to her expectation, know I love Victoria to death but she can not win any slams with her current mental ability. It really is all mental with her, yes she is not the fittest player and serve isn't the best but its all mental, mental, mental! She did well not to go into meltdown after being thumped 6-1 in the first set of her Wimbledon semi, but that is one small step on a long, long road.

Sabine Lisicki (rank 27, best 22, 1 slam semi final) after suffering a horrific injury at the 2009 US Open Lisicki has struggled to return to the form that took her to the 2009 Wimbledon quarter final, however that all as turned around recently, Lisicki was unlucky to lose against Vera Zvonerava ar Roland Garros this year and reached the Wimbledon semi final as a wild card, now she has a lot pressure and expectation placed on her I hope and pray she can deal with it and make a big name for herself.

Wozniacki (rank 1, best 1, 1 slam final) weapons, weapons, weapons she has the temperament when she is in front of her matches but at the moment she does lack weapons. Players who are just 'pushers' just simply do not win slams, she has done work on improving her serve recently but she still needs a forehand and a net game, with a forehand and a net game she will be able to bring her game together to win big ones.