How Serena Williams and Venus Williams have 'inspired' America's elite crop as Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova and Madison Keys shine at Australian Open

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The 2026 Australian Open has, once again, shown the incredible standard of women's tennis in the United States, with Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys, Amanda Anisimova and Iva Jovic all reaching the last 16. Mats Wilander feels the uptake in tennis among American women can be attributed to the nation's iconic flag-bearers from the previous generation - Serena and Venus Williams.

Serena and Venus Williams have inspired American girls - Expert reaction

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Serena and Venus Williams have "inspired" the United States' new generation of women's tennis players, Mats Wilander says.

The Australian Open has once more demonstrated the incredibly healthy state in which tennis finds itself among American women.

The last 16 of the women's draw featured five players representing the United States, while each of the four Grand Slam finals in 2025 had an American competing - with Madison Keys taking the Melbourne title and Coco Gauff winning the French Open.

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With Amanda Anisimova's incredible rise to No. 4 - reaching both the Wimbledon and US Open finals last year - the U.S. now have not only regular title threats in their ranks, but also exciting young talents.

Indeed, 18-year-old Iva Jovic is amid her best-ever run at a major tournament, having ousted No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini in the third round.

Having firmly established itself as the dominant nation in women's tennis, Wilander feels credit is owed to the Williams sisters, whose iconic careers and many titles resulted in a spike of uptake among girls from a young age.

Asked why there is such a rich vein of American women in the latter stage of the Australian Open draw, Wilander said: "Well, I think it’s one last name: Williams.

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"I think Serena and Venus Williams have inspired American girls to pick tennis as their sport, rather than others.

"They’re competing with European football, and when you get the most talented kids to play your sport, that’s when you have players like America are producing today."

Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, while Venus won seven major tournaments - and the sisters teamed up to claim 14 majors as a doubles pairing - bearing the American flag in an era of dominance at the top of the women's game.

Jim Courier said the success enjoyed by the current generation of American women in tennis is not overly surprising, given the winning culture that Serena and Venus helped to embed, alongside previous greats such as Billie Jean King and Chris Evert.

"In America, tennis for women is the biggest sport," Courier said. "Most of our great athletes have tended to migrate and spend their time in tennis. We have a lot of them in the country.

"In the way a lot of our athletes choose others for the men’s side - might be basketball, football, or something like that.

"We have a long tradition now of people winning in the women’s side, and we don’t with the men.

"It’s really not that much of surprise they’re doing well, also because we’re primarily a hard-court focused nation. To play well here, not that much of a surprise, but it is pleasing from an American lens."

Courier had particular praise for teenager Jovic, who - after winning her maiden WTA title in Guadalajara last year - has played lights-out tennis in Melbourne thus far, and will face the ultimate test against Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals.

On Jovic's last-16 victory over Yulia Putintseva, Courier said: "It was a huge win, for her to win that convincingly when she was the favourite.

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"It’s different to playing Paolini when it’s all upside for her, and it’s still a good tournament if she loses to the seventh seed.

"She was awesome. The gains she’s made physically are enabling the rest of her game to really flourish.

"She’s a clean ball-striker, Californian hard-court ball striker, it all looks really good. But she’s moving incredibly well, and she’s added some strength to her.

"It’s impressive, and she’s only just turned 18."

Gauff: 'Relief' to come through Muchova test

Gauff, the world No. 3, came through a stern test against Karolina Muchova to continue her fine Australian Open run and reach the quarter-finals.

The Czech threatened a comeback when coming from a set behind to level, but Gauff gained an important break to love in the decider, and held onto her serve - letting out a shout of relief when she came through a nervy service game for 5-2 after saving a break point.

Speaking to TNT Sports, Gauff said her shout was "more relief" than anything else - knowing the challenge Muchova posed to her Melbourne title hopes.

"Every time I play her, even though it’s been good, it’s never been easy," Gauff said, after extending her head-to-head record over Muchova to 5-0.

Gauff admits to 'relief' after win as she hopes to 'continue momentum'

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"I think she plays so well, especially coming from behind, so that last service game was really important."

Gauff is hunting her maiden Australian title, with prior experience of hard-court success through her 2023 US Open triumph. She explained the difficulties she faced during the win over Muchova.

"Honestly, I think it was tough when the balls started to get old," she said. "I felt like usually my high spin shot wasn’t jumping up as much, so I was just trying to accelerate.

It wasn’t the prettiest towards the end, but it was enough for today, and that’s all that matters."

Gauff added: "It means a lot, just wanting to start off the year on the good note, I want continue this momentum.

"I feel like each match I’m getting better, and that is all I can ask for."

A difficult quarter-final against either Elina Svitolina or Mirra Andreeva awaits.

Stream every match of the 2026 Australian Open live and on-demand on discovery+

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