There have been a few false dawns with this one, but it is safe to say now that the order of men’s and women’s tennis is finally changing.

Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, 20, has burst onto the scene this year, starting in Melbourne where she was adopted quickly by some locals who dubbed themselves ‘Genie’s Army’.

They chanted her name and threw cuddly toys. Her tennis more than matched their attention.

Then in Paris, Genie (as she’s often called) proved that her success on the hard courts of Melbourne Park was no fluke by reaching the last four of the French Open.

The aggressive nature of the new brand of tennis played by the next generation of men and women is exciting.

Her success here at Wimbledon, moving through to the final against Petra Kvitova, comes as no surprise to those who have watched her progress over the last six to nine months or even longer. She is, as they say, and she says, the real deal.

“You know, it’s not like a surprise to me,” Bouchard said.

“I expect good results like this. So for me, I was like, okay, good. It’s a step in the right direction. I get to play in the final. You know, I still have another match, so it’s not a full celebration yet.”

Like many of the younger players, she doesn’t lack confidence.

“After doing well in the past few slams, I’ve been believing since the beginning of the tournament that I can do really well. It’s really important not to get ahead of ourselves, but I totally feel like I belong, and I’m just so excited for the next match.”

Nobody would deny that and with her attitude and game, Genie takes much of the attention.

But a lot of other new names are really beginning to get some traction in the women’s game. Simona Halep is a bit older at 22, but she’s made enormous progress over the last 12 months and, as the number three seed, she made the semi-finals here.

A glance at the women’s rankings shows Serena Williams and Li Na on top followed by Halep. But Petra Kvitova, Genie Bouchard, Sabine Lisicki, Angelique Kerber and Alize Cornet are all threatening that, and beginning to feature more prominently in the top 20 players, and more importantly, at the pointy end of major tournaments.

Men’s top four shaken up

On the men’s side, it is even more pronounced.

The arrival of the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov is imminent, irrespective of whether he wins his Wimbledon semi-final against Novak Djokovic. The way he dismantled Andy Murray on Centre Court shows that the Bulgarian’s time to shine has arrived.

Canadian Milos Raonic too is finally delivering on the promise that he’s shown for a few years now.

Again, the result against Roger Federer in the semi-final is by the by; what’s important is that the next generation is coming and it is coming with an aggressive style of tennis not seen for a decade or more.

No more can Andy, Novak, Roger and Rafa expect to breeze through a tournament. And nor can Maria and Serena expect the same on the women’s side.

“It’s a thing I guess that you can’t really out run time in one way,” Raonic said.

“New guys got to come up and they’ve got to step up. We’ve been doing better and better, especially throughout this year. I think it’s been more on display and it’s stood out more.”

“It’s good to be a part of it. It’s nice to see that sort of human side to those four guys when you have to step up to face them. Have a belief more so than ever that it’s yours for the taking if you play well.”

That belief is crucial to the change that’s happening right now in front of us, and most importantly, in front of the players.

“I think you see it more in people’s play and people’s attitude when they step out on court,” Raonic said.

“It’s a big difference to where probably a lot of guys were maybe a year ago. It’s an even bigger difference where guys were two, three, four, five years ago where there was a very tight stranglehold on who was winning those big tournaments.”

It’s personified also by one man who’s broken through here at this year’s Wimbledon in Australian Nick Kyrgios.

The 19-year-old from Canberra has shown that he belongs in this group of players, although he’s not there yet. There is hard work to do and consistent results must be delivered, but Kyrgios has shown that, like the others, he is willing to do that.

Ernests Gulbis, Kei Nishikori, Roberto Bautista-Agut, Jerzy Janowicz have all shown the capabilities to produce big results at major championships.

They now must take their opportunity as the new breed of top players, stay fit, get strong, and help challenge the big four’s chronic domination of the sport.

The aggressive nature of the new brand of tennis played by the next generation of men and women is exciting too. It’s heavy hitting but there’s little retrieving from the back of the court, as you tend not to be there as much. This type of tennis is all about big serves, big forehands and stepping in to take your chances when you get them.

The era of domination from the big four in the men’s game is coming to an end. No more can Andy, Novak, Roger and Rafa expect to breeze through a tournament. And nor can Maria and Serena expect the same on the women’s side.

Tennis is about to get a lot more unpredictable. And for most observers and fans, that’s very exciting.