Choosing a top ten female tennis players, or for anything else for that matter, can be a challenging and very subjective process. As challenging as it was to choose an all-time biggest top ten for the men, the females’ top ten shown to be just as difficult. There have been so many excellent women players over the last half a century and this does not even take into account the awesome players from the beginning of the 20th century. Improvements in fitness routines, nutrition and racket technological innovations over the decades have only managed to confuse an already hard selection. After going through plenty of statistical information and personal opinions about it, we have come up with the list of the top women tennis players of all-time.
So, here they are, our top 10 female tennis players in the history.
10. Justine Henin
Known for her psychological and physical sturdiness, Justine Henin is one of the fittest females to ever play in this sport. Despite her smaller stature, she had a highly effective impact on the tennis court and performed a complete sport that involved powerful serves and a forehand game that she played with both power and precision. Known as one of the top volleyers in tennis, Henin was as relaxed at the net as from a baseline. In 2003, she reached the number one position on the globe having taken both the France Open and the US Open.
Then, in 2004, she won the Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Athens along with Henin’s first Australian Open. She won seven Grand Slams during her career in tennis, but she retired suddenly in 2008 due to burnout from more than two decades of aggressive playing. A brief return in 2010 was temporary and she retired for good at the beginning of 2011.
9. Venus Williams
If it was not for having to go against her sis Serena, Venus Williams might very well have won a whole lot more titles over her long career. The siblings have gone many times one against the other, for example in Grand Slams for eight finals with Serena taking six of these titles. While Venus’s game has been affected by numerous injuries, there is no question that at the beginning of 2000 she was the player to defeat on court. Between 2000 and 2001, she has taken four from a total of seven Grand Slam wins. In 2002, she lastly earned the first place position on the rankings, a position that she would catch on three individual events.
Wimbledon has been her preferred competition, as Venus has taken five final there, the last being in 2008. She is currently trying a comeback in the top events after struggling through 2 years of joint and hip problems. She began the 2014 year in the 47th position on the globe, but got back into the top 20 for the first time since 2011 and completed the 2014 season being 18th in the world rankings.
8. Evonne Goolagong
Often neglected because she performed during the Chris Evert or Martina Navratilova eras, Goolagong was the perfect example of beauty and elegance on the tennis court. Despite competing during one of the most aggressive periods in females’ tennis, Goolagong has been able to take seven Grand Slams and in 1976 was listed as the top female player in the world. Goolagong has the title of being the only mom to have taken a Wimbledon title, winning the title in 1980 following her childbirth to her little girl in 1977. The only title of Grand Slam that she missed was the US Open where Goolagong was in four consecutive finals between 1973 and 1976.
7. Monica Seles
Were it not for the regrettable strike on court Grand Slams. Her impressive fights with Steffi Graf were great and the tennis lovers were deprived of some excellent games because of one man’s twisted mind. While she did come back to play two years later after the occurrence Seles was never the same again. To her credit, Monica did win the Australian Open in 1996, her only title after the strike. Seles played until 2003 and retired officially in 2008. There is no question that Monica Seles was the most prominent tennis player between 1990 and 1992. During that time, she has taken seven of a total of nine Grand Slam victories and in 1991 she was the top ranked female player on the globe.
6. Billie Jean King
Who can forget the strange and crazy battle of the sexes between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in 1973? Not only did Ms. King get rid of Mr. Riggs instantly, but she ahs taken over the women’s tennis courts from the mid 60’s to the mid 70’s. Her difficult and aggressive style of playing was so distinctive when compared to the stately grounded game of Chris Evert that came along in the early 70’s to defeat King as the leader of women’s tennis Nevertheless, she dominated Wimbledon between 1966 and 1975, when she won six of the finals played
5. Margaret Court
There are many professionals out there who say that Margaret Court is the top female player in the history. With a total of 24 Grand Slam titles in the singles matches, this is hard to challenge. Add to it 19 titles in the doubles and 19 in the mixed doubles, and Court has a history of 62 important titles under her name. She was the first female in the open era to take the singles Grand Slam in the 70s, and she is the only woman to win a Grand Slam in the mixed doubles, a performance that she did twice. Certainly the best female in the 1960’s to the beginning of 1970’s, Margaret Court was the first lady to integrate weight and fitness workouts into her schedule. The outcome was a long and free of injuries career.
4. Chris Evert
Was there ever a woman more elegant on the tennis court than the one and only Chris Evert? She was a top player from the baseline and with her two-handed backhand game, she has taken over women’s tennis court from the mid 70’s into the beginning of the 1980’s. Chris Evert still has the record for playing the most Grand Slam finals at 34, and she succeeded in winning 18 of these, and at least twice in every major one of them. When Martina Navratilova arrived in the late 70’s, it offered tennis lovers an awesome on-court competition. Evert was the season-ending top player in the world for 7 years and had, during her career, a successful amount of wins in singles matches of over 90%.
3. Martina Navratilova
One of the hardest opponents to ever play on a tennis court, Martina Navratilova defeated the other female players from the late 70’s through a long period of the 80’s. Known for her excessive physical training, Martina introduced the big serve and volley back in the women’s game. She has the open era record most titles with 167 and won 59 Grand Slams, such as singles, doubles and mixed pairs. Martina also has the record for most Wimbledon titles with an awesome nine tournaments. She will be remembered as a top doubles players of all time having taken 31 Grand Slam Doubles and 10 Grand Slam Mixed Pairs.
2. Serena Williams
One of the most highly effective and most powerful females to ever perform in tennis, Serena Williams has undoubtedly left a legacy on the experience in this sport. Along with her older sister, Venus, the Williams siblings have been a huge power in women’s tennis since the 90’s. With 19 Grand Slam wins, Serena gets the advantage over her sis who she has joined with to play 13 Grand Slam Doubles.
At the age of 33, she obtained again the first position on the globe, a ranking that she first earned after returning in 2002. Serena’s activity has certainly survived the ages and competitors. Her Grand Slam wins have come over a 16 season interval beginning in 1999, with her newest success arriving at the 2015 Australian Open on court. 2012 was a particularly excellent time for Serena as she has claimed her fifth Wimbledon victory and the Gold medal at the Olympic Games in London, UK. She followed that up with a couple of more Grand Slam wins in 2013, the French Open and the US Open, with another US open victory in 2014.
With Serena’s performances over the last three years and a 2015 Australian Open win, she seems to be getting more competitive with age. We have raised her all-time position to the number 2 place. If she is capable to keep her results at this advanced stage, there is surely the chance to be able to surpass Steffi Graf for the first place in the top
1. Steffi Graf
While some may claim that the top place should be held by Martina Navratilova or even Serena Williams, for us it belongs to Steffi Graff. Capable to play great on all surfaces, Steffi Graff was an example of reliability throughout her 17 season career. A record of 377 weeks being rated as the top female player on the globe is a performance for any sportsman, woman or man.
In 1988, Steffi became the first tennis player to accomplish what is considered as the calendar year Golden Slam by successfully taken all four big titles plus an Olympic Gold Medal during the same season, an amazing performance. From the late 80’s to the mid 90’s, there was no female player better than her and when she officially retired in the late 90s, she was still rated as the third player in the world. For us, this option is an obvious one, Steffi Graf is the top women’s tennis player of all-time.
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