For the upstarts of women's tennis, it was a moment that said: "We have arrived."

At the French Open earlier this month, Serena Williams was clobbered. Li Na, the Australian Open champion, was bounced in the first round. And Maria Sharapova needed three of the gutsiest performances of her career to turn back three rising stars on the way to winning the title.

Though Sharapova won in Paris against 22-year-old Romanian Simona Halep, Halep and a group of young women born in the 1990s announced their presence. Now, with Wimbledon set to begin Monday, women's tennis has finally found its future. This generation is the one women's tennis fans have been waiting for, the one that can carry the sport after the last of the legends born in the 1980s—Serena and Venus Williams and Sharapova—retire.

The new kids are big hitters and fast movers. They're brash. They don't cower when facing past champions. They're relentless. They're creative and play to the crowd. And they don't just bash tennis balls; they hit drop shots and volleys and slices and sharp angles. They're so fun to watch that the final between Halep and Sharapova, which lasted a little over three hours, felt like it ended too soon.

"They're young, they're hungry and they're full of potential," said Tracy Austin, the former No. 1 player.