This has been an incredible year for women’s tennis, with five different ladies sharing Grand Slam and WTA Finals glory. There were so many incredible champions this year and I thought it would be a perfect time to compile my own personal list of favourites. I had to leave out some truly noteworthy moments (Bencic winning her first title as a mother in Abu Dhabi and Sabalenka ending the Grand Slam season on a high in New York). But these are the wins that left the biggest impression on me this season.
6. Iga Swiatek- Wimbledon
This was one of the most surprising narratives of the year. For all her amazing success, Iga Swiatek has never looked comfortable playing on grass, and most people had completely dismissed her chance of ever lifting the Wimbledon crown. Her footwork was iffy, and she struggled with the comparatively lower bounce. But she did considerable work with coach Wim Fisette and enjoyed an incredible breakthrough year on the surface, reaching her first grass-court final at the Bad Homburg Open (she lost to Pegula). She then parlayed that into arguably the biggest win of her career, triumphing at the All- England club to pick up her 6th slam (and the 3rd leg of the career Grand Slam). The only reason this isn’t further up the list is that it will forever be remembered as the first Wimbledon final to end in a double-bagel defeat. An overawed Anisimova was powerless in the face of Swiatek’s flat-hitting assault, and the match quickly descended into an exercise in cringe. Fortunately, Anisimova would pick herself up off the mat and avenge her defeat with victory over Swiatek in the US Open quarterfinals.
5. Victoria Mboko- Canadian Open
This wonderful hometown victory was a true breath of fresh air. Mboko started the year ranked a lowly 333rd in the world. But she rose to 24th after this rousing win in Montreal, which concluded in back-to-back comeback wins over Rybakina and Osaka. Mboko beat four Grand Slam champions en route to winning the title in front of 11,000 baying supporters. The teenage phenom went for broke in the final stages against Osaka, using her mammoth groundstrokes to reel off the last five games. The men’s final between Shelton and Khachanov- which was being played concurrently in Toronto- had to be halted when news of her victory filtered through, as the Toronto crowd broke out in celebration midway through the match. That’s the extent to which Mboko gripped the imagination.
4. Jasmine Paolini- Italian Open
Jasmine Paolini lit up the Foro Italico earlier this season, beating Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to become the first Italian woman to win the prestigious event since Raffaella Reggi in 1985. She rode the wave of mammoth home support and was the picture of jubilation in her winning moment, spinning around in delight after sending a monster serve down the T on her 2nd championship point (Gauff couldn’t retrieve it). You could feel the 40-year weight of expectation lift in that moment. Sinner couldn’t make it a rare Italian double, falling to Alcaraz in the subsequent men’s final. Still, Paolini did have a bit more history to create, going on to win the women’s doubles title with Sara Errani, becoming the first woman since Monica Seles in 1990 to claim the Rome double. Illustrious company indeed.
3. Coco Gauff- French Open
This was the stuff of fairytales. Coco Gauff was in a state of existential crisis leading into the year’s clay-court swing, struggling with the biomechanics of her swing while battling to set up her forehand on the quicker surfaces. She was quickly losing touch with the elite players. Clay came to the American’s rescue (not a sentiment you hear too often). The slower surfaces gave Gauff more time to allow for adjustments on her forehand and she thrived, picking up back-to-back runner-up finishes in Madrid and Rome. She then created history, becoming the youngest player to reach all three premier clay-court finals in the same year with a herculean run to the French Open final. She showed all her trademark gumption in Paris, coming back from a set down to take down World No.1 Sabalenka. It was Gauff’s 2nd Grand Slam triumph and spurred on her on to rejuvenated all-court form.
2. Elena Rybakina- WTA Finals
This victory had the type of backstory that would make Geroge R.R. Martin envious. The powerful Kazakh had been railing against the establishment all year, incensed at the suspension of coach Stefano Vukov and the hectic change in scheduling. Her form suffered and she lost her potency. She did enjoy a late-season surge in form, winning in Ningbo to increase her chances of sneaking into the WTA Finals. Russian teenage sensation Andreeva had a bit of a ‘mare’, failing to get the proper visa requirements for the Pan Pacific Open. That opened the door for Rybakina and she obliged, doing what she needed to do to qualify. She was in rampant form in Riyadh, winning all her matches to extend her winning streak to 11 matches. She beat Sabalenka in the final, announcing that she looks ready to the big table alongside Sabalenka, Swiatek and Gauff. She even took the chance to stick it to the man one final time, refusing to pose for a picture with WTA Executive Director Portia Archer (this after winning five million dollars!). Gangster.
1. Madison Keys- Australian Open
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house after this one. I think many American tennis enthusiasts had probably resigned themselves to the fact that Madison Keys would be one of the great ‘nearly’ women of the WTA Tour. She finished runner-up at the US Open nearly a decade ago and time was running out. But she turned back the hands of time during a devastating 16-match winning streak at the start of the year, beating World No.2 Swiatek and World No.1 Sabalenka en route to her maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne. It was a vintage final, with both women trading bombs from the baseline. Sabalenka had looked virtually unbeatable in Melbourne, but Keys somehow found all the answers, capturing the hearts of tennis fans the world over.
