Over the past few years there has been quite a 'Russian Revolution' on the tennis tour, especially among the women players.

There are now four Russians in the WTA top 10 and a further 13 the top 100 rankings this week - and the numbers are rising. What once was a tour dominated by the United States is now turning to Eastern Europe for its glamorous stars of the future.

There were always a few former USSR players on the tour such as Natasha Zvereva, Larissa Neiland and Leila Melshki but it was the rise of Russian beauty Anna Kournikova which made everybody sit up and take notice as the influx of power-driven women began. 

Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova are all now household names in their native country and newcomer Anna Chakvetadze has also made her mark, winning 50 matches this season and already reaching the No.6 spot. 

Other former Soviet states are also joining the bandwagon as we see Belarus players such as Victoria Azarenka and Olga Govotsova climbing the rankings rapidly at such a young age and even players from Uzbekistan and Estonia are regularly on the tour.

What is their secret? A desire to win? Money? Who really knows? But what we do know is that these players brighten up the WTA Tour and make the game more interesting.

In the men's game, Russia is also developing a number of stars. Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny are all top ranked players and Russia no longer needs to rely on the memories of Andrei Cherkasov, Andrei Chesnokov and Yevgeny Kafelnikov of the late 80's and early 90's. 

Of course the US is still a strong presence, as are tennis countries such as Spain and France, but can anyone really break the dominance of the Russian ladies? China perhaps?