One often hears American tennis fans, officials and players lament the poor prospects for future men's tennis champions from that country. In the late 1980s and early 1990s a generation of top players had burst on the scene virtually at the same time, when Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Jim Courier all won major tournaments, and the likes of Todd Martin also excelled at the highest level of the sport. Now, with Courier having retired and the rest of that impressive generation approaching the landmark a ge of 30, Americans have looked to the younger stable of pros and have seen few reasons to be enthused.

Hopes for the future of the U.S. men's game have taken a turn upward recently. Jan-Michael Gambill has had an excellent season, most recently reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon before losing a close four-setter to perennial Wimbledon champion Sampras. And hopes are high for former number one junior Andy Roddick, now taking his first steps in the pros.

Still more flames of hope were fanned this week in Newport, where the final grass court tournament of the year is held each year. 18 year old Floridian Mardy Fish won two rounds of the event, notably knocking out defending champion and Davis Cup hero Chris Woodruff, before being ousted by the huge-serving Aussie Wayne Arthurs in the quarterfinal.

Fish had put together a fine final year in the juniors in 1999, winning an important grass court junior event in England and finishing the season in the world's top ten. After signing a sponsorship deal with the omnipresent IMG and graduating from prep school in Florida, he launched his professional career this year with a big splash. Given a wild card at the Ericsson Open in Miami in March, young Fish won his first-ever match on the main tour, disposing of Spain's Galo Blanco (a clay court specialist w ho is like a fish out of water on hard courts, it must be pointed out), with Fish leading 6-4, 0-6, 4-1 when Blanco abandoned the hostitlities with a lower back strain. Mardy then was crushed by Tommy Haas in the second round, but he had won his first match and announced himself among the pros.

The months between his breakthrough in Miami and his successes in Newport have been easy swimming for Fish, a 6'3" resident of Boca Raton. With no more wild cards on the immediate horizon he was forced to climb the rankings ladder by participating in Futures tournaments, the lowest rung of professional tennis. Mardy not only suffered some disappointing losses, he was battling an injured right elbow. He did have a confidence-boosting win in a Houston exhibition event in April, however, where he beat for mer number one Jim Courier. "I know the competition is high and these tournaments are tough," Fish told the Vero Beach Press Journal in May, while grinding it out at a Futures event. "But if I play well, I can win. Obviously beating Courier is better than winning a Future."

Ironically, Fish patterns his game after the man who handed him his first loss on the tour, Tommy Haas. He is using his height to develop a potent serve, and is more comfortable on the baseline where he displays an explosive topspin forehand and an adequate but improving one-handed backhand. He still appears relatively uncomfortable at the net, and given his height and the dearth of good volleyers among the tour's young players, one hopes he will develop this aspect of his game. But his focus seems to be on developing a killer serve for the moment. "I'm trying to get a bigger serve," confided the youngster last year. "I am 6' 2" - 6' 3" now and still growing. I would love a Krajicek-type serve one day."

Given his close-up look at the devastating service of Wayne Arthurs' this week, who can blame Mardy?

When the draw of the women's Uniqa Grand Prix in Klagenfurt, Austria was announced this week, our eyebrows were raised upon noting that a certain Jenny Zika, a name totally unknown in tennis circles, had been awarded a wild card for this event.

Curious, I did a Web search for the name, which yielded only two hits. Both made reference to an Austrian modeling contest called "Elite Model Look 1999". The co-winner of this competition, which was intended to unearth the next Austrian top model, was a 14-year-old named Jenny Zika. Coincidence? Hmmm?..

Next I happened upon an Austrian newspaper that reported briefly on Zika's first round match, referring to the young player as a 15-year-old "Austrian Kournikova". Zika's professional début lasted only 48 minutes, as she was swept aside by qualifier Petra Rampre, 6-1, 6-2. After examining a photo of young Jenny at the Klagenfurt tournament, and comparing it to the star of the "Elite Model Look 1999" contest, I am convinced this was the same Jenny Zika at both events.

Given Anna Kournikova's success at making herself fabulously wealthy despite never having won a tournament by marketing her physical attributes, it seems sadly logical that Kournikova "wannabes", young teens with no significant results but with good looks, are popping up around the globe. We need only look at the way Monique Viele has marketed herself in the U.S. And now, Jenny Zika. Before long, would-be Kournikovas will be popping up in every nation. My witty colleague Ed Zafian has dubbed this the "Clone-ikova movement".

Send in the clones? Don't bother, they're here?.