Sabalenka Cements Top Dog Status: Best WTA…

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Another incredible year of tennis has come and gone and now it’s time to reflect on some of the season’s most memorable moments on the WTA Tour.

Top Players Consolidate

2024 was truly a year where the top players cemented their hold on the upper echelon of the women’s game. While there was some movement from a year ago, most notably a change in the year-end No.1 ranking for the first time since 2021, there remains a small group of women who have maintained their dominance consistently all season long.

Aryna Sabalenka continued her strong play at the slams by starting and finishing the majors in 2024 with victories. In January, she defended her Australian Open title with a win over rising star Qinwen Zheng and then in September, she grabbed her first US Open championship against American Jessica Pegula.

Due in part to her strong play at the majors, Sabalenka took the No. 1 ranking from Iga Swiatek to conclude the year.

While Swiatek finished at No. 2, she proved once again to be the undisputed Clay-Court Queen, taking home titles in Madrid, Rome, and, once again, at Roland-Garros. This was the fourth of the past five French Open’s that have ended with Swiatek lifting the trophy.

Also keeping her spot in the top three in the world was 20-year-old Coco Gauff, who started the year well by making the semis in Australia and Paris before slumping through the summer, struggling mightily on her serve.

Gauff would recover thanks to a coaching change in the fall as she won the China Open and made the semis in Wuhan. She closed out the year with a bang by beating all of the year’s slam winners at the WTA Finals and taking out the Olympic Gold medalist Zheng in possibly the match of the year to win the entire event.

It will be interesting to see if anyone can unseat these top three women in 2025 given their consistency over the last few years.

Qinwen Zheng: Star Power Unleashed

Towards the end of the summer swing in 2023, Marijn Bal, agent to Qinwen Zheng, boldly predicted that his client had big things in store for 2024. He said with confidence that she would crack the Top 10 and contend for her first major, and the 22-year-old from China did just that and then some.

Zheng started her year by making the finals of the Australian Open, which vaulted her into the Top 10 and then won her first title of the year in Palermo at the start of the summer on clay.

She continued her strong play on the surface by capturing the Olympic Gold medal at the Paris Games. Most impressive in her run to the top of the podium was her victory over the usually-dominant Iga Swiatek on clay in straight sets.

Zheng finished the year ranked No. 5.

Coaching Shake-Ups

The weeks following the US Open turned into a coaching carousel in the women’s game with some major changes happening between some of the best in the sport and their former mentors.

Former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka got the ball rolling when she parted ways with Wim Fissette in mid-September. The four-time Slam champ has turned to Patrick Mouratoglou, who memorably got some of the best years out of Serena Williams later in her career.

Coco Gauff had a very successful 2023 bringing in Brad Gilbert who helped her win her first major at Flushing Meadows. But when things got tough in the middle of 2024, she realized it was time for a change once again. She’s been working with Matt Daly as her new coach and the results have been terrific so far.

Iga Swiatek also parted ways with her longtime coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and turned to one of the recently available options when she locked down the aforementioned Fissette. Most surprising was that Swiatek made the decision while still ranked No. 1 in the world, something that doesn’t happen often in any sport.

American Women on Fire

2024 saw the continued rise of American women in both rankings and results. They can boast of having three of the Top 10 players in the world at season’s end as well as 17 in the Top 100 of the rankings.

Aside from Gauff’s achievements in 2024, the strength of Jessica Pegula was on full display this summer and Canadian tennis fans got to see that up close at the National Bank Open in Toronto where she stormed her way to the final without dropping a set before defeating fellow American Amanda Anisimova 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.

Pegula continued her strong play by making the finals in Cincinnati and the US Open (her first time past the quarter-finals at a major) falling just short both times at the hands of Aryna Sabalenka.

The WTA's best return to Montreal next summer for the National Bank Open July 26 to Aug. 7, 2025 at IGA Stadium. 2025 Tickets are on sale. Get your tickets today!

Feature Photo: Martin Sidorjak