Whether you keep up with tennis or not, you’ve probably heard the name Coco Gauff over the last week or so. This is because she recently won her first-ever Grand Slam against Arnya Sabalenka who, according to the Women’s Tennis Association, was ranked number one in 2023.
If you’re not sure what a Grand Slam is, every summer, New York City becomes the focus in the world of tennis as it hosts the annual US Opens, turning the concrete jungle into a worldwide arena. There are four major Grand Slams, and the United States hosts the final one, after Australia, France and Wimbledon. In honour of celebrating Gauff’s recent win, along with the closing of the final annual Grand Slam of the year, we have dedicated this blog to celebrate the top 10 women’s tennis players in 2023:
1. Arnya Sabalenka
First up is a professional tennis player from Belarus, Arnya Sabalenka. At 25 years old, Sabalenka has won three Grand Slams in total. The singles title for the 2023 Australian Open, along with a doubles title in 2019 and one in 2021. The doubles titles were accomplished alongside Elise Mertens. Sabalenka is considered the top women’s tennis player of the year because she holds more cumulative points than any other player in 2023. In total, she has 9,266 points, one thousand more than the second-best women’s tennis player.
2. Iga Swiatek
Swiatek is a Polish professional tennis player who was ranked first in 2022. Although she has been ranked second this year, Swiatek still holds the ranking for number one women’s singles player by the Women’s Tennis Association. She has won four Grand Slams, three at the French Open in 2020, 2022 and 2023 as well as one in the US Open in 2022. Four major accomplishments at age 22 are pretty insane! Swiatek has 8,195 points, two thousand more than the third-best women’s player.
3. Coco Gauff
Third is professional American player Coco Gauff. At just 19 years old, Gauff won her first-ever Grand Slam this year. She has also won six Women’s Tennis Association titles in total along with eight doubles titles. The doubles were alongside Jessica Pegula and Caty McNally. This is a mind-blowing one, because of her age but also because she won against the number one women’s player of the year. Gauff has a total of 6,165 points.
4. Elena Rybakina
In fourth place, Rybakina is just 24 years old but has won five singles titles with the Women’s Tennis Association and has come second in nine other finals. She recently earned the title of being the first Kazakhstani player to win a Grand Slam when she won the 2022 Wimbledon Open. She holds a total of 5,790 points.
5. Jessica Pegula
In fifth is Jessica Pegula, another tennis player from America. Though Pegula has not yet won a Grand Slam, she has won a total of ten titles with the Women’s Tennis Association, three in singles and seven in doubles. She only holds forty-five fewer points than Rybakina, with 5,755 in total.
6. Marketa Vondrousova
Sixth is Marketa Vondrousova, a professional tennis player from Czechia. Like Gauff, Vondrousova was also 19 when she made it to the 2019 French Open. She was the first teenage major finalist in almost a decade! Vondrousova also won her first major this year, at the 2023 Wimbledon Open. She is the first unseeded woman and third unseeded player in general to win a Grand Slam. In total, she has 3,830 points.
7. Ons Jabeur
Seventh in line is Ons Jabeur, a professional tennis player from Tunisia. Jabeur has won a total of 13 titles under the International Tennis Federation, eleven in singles and one in doubles. She was also the runner-up for Wimbledon 2022 and 2023 which means she competed with two of the players mentioned above, Rybakina and Vandrousova. This made her the first Arab woman to compete at a major singles final! She has 3,771 points in total, only thirty points fewer than Vondrousova.
8. Karolina Muchavo
In eighth place with 3,765 points, Mouchavo won the Korean Open in 2019 and has been a runner-up for three finals on the Women’s Tennis Association tour. She made it to the semi-finals this year at the US Open Grand Slam, where she competed against Gauff. Like Vondrousova, Muchavo is also from Czechia.
9. Maria Sakkari
Sakkari is a professional tennis player from Greece who has made it to the Grand Slam semi-finals twice in 2021, once in France and once in the U.S. She has 3,525 points in total and currently sits in the ninth spot among the top ten women’s tennis players in the world.
10. Caroline Garcia
Last but certainly not least is French player, Caroline Garcia, with 3,050 points. Garcia has a whopping nineteen wins in total under the Women’s Tennis Association. Eleven singles and eight doubles, two of which were Grand Slam titles.
