Ever since the exit of Serena Williams, the women’s field around the WTA circuit has had an open look, says Partab Ramchand. Away from the Grand Slams, even around the WTA circuit, there was no player in 2024 who really called the shots, but if there is one player to look out for in 2025 it could well be Coco Gauff, he feels. Overall though, even with the rise of the exciting talent that is Gauff, the field continues to be competitive and, so, it is still an open field as the players prepare for 2025, says Ramchand
Ever since the exit of Serena Williams, the women’s field around the WTA circuit has had an open look. There really has been no dominant star, the players at the No. 1 spot in the rankings have kept changing routinely and Grand Slam titles have been shared over the last few years by a number of contestants. Australia’s Ashleigh Barty did give the impression that she could be a dominant player winning three Grand Slams and one WTA Tour title between 2019 and 2022. But she suddenly announced her retirement from the game in March 2022 just two months after her Australian Open title and still ranked No. 1 at the time.
That again gave the field a rather open look, but on her performances through 2022 and 2023, there emerged indications that Iga Swiatek could be the next dominant player on the circuit. She was virtually unstoppable as she stormed her way to the No. 1 ranking, winning the French Open twice and the US Open once. She had already won the French Open in 2020 and with four Grand Slam titles and a WTA tour final triumph in 2023, she was well ahead of the rest of the field.
This year, Swiatek put in a commanding performance at the French Open. She dropped only one set towards completing a hat trick of title triumphs making her only the third woman after Justin Henin (2005 to 2007) and Monica Seles (1990 to 1992) to perform that feat. It was her fourth title overall at Roland Garros and, along with the US Open title she won in 2022, her tally of five Grand Slam triumphs put her way ahead of the competition.
Unfortunately for Swiatek, her dominance did not last long for that was the only Grand Slam she won during the year. In the process, the 23-year-old Polish player lost her No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka who won two Grand Slam titles – the Australian Open and the US Open. The 26-year-old from Belarus was briefly at the top of the rankings during when she won the Australian Open for her maiden Grand Slam title. She has been consistent around the ATP circuit for the last few years and has been finally rewarded finishing the year as No. 1, ending the two-year reign of Swiatek at the top, though the Polish player is hot on her heels at No. 2.
The other Grand Slam winner during 2024 was Barbora Krejčíková who took the Wimbledon crown. It was the second major title for the 28-year-old Czech player, having won the French Open in 2021. She has been in the top ten for quite a while, reaching as high as No. 2 in 2022. Barbora first made her mark as a doubles specialist and has in fact completed a career Grand Slam, winning the event at all four majors. She has a total of seven women’s Grand Slam doubles titles to go with a Tour final title and an Olympic Games gold. Since 2021, she has also made significant progress in singles play and the culmination of this was the Wimbledon title.
Seeded as low as 31, Barbora produced one upset after another before getting the better of the 2022 champion Elena Rybakina in the semifinal and clinched the title defeating Jasmine Paolini, the seventh seed, in the final. Barbora was the second lowest ranked player to win the Wimbledon title since the WTA rankings began in 1975 and as a result she returned to the top ten, a place she retained in the year-end rankings.
Away from the Grand Slams, even around the WTA circuit, there was no player who really called the shots but if there is one player to look out for in 2025 it could well be Coco Gauff. She has been a prodigy as a teenager and now at 20, she could well be at the peak of her powers. She was consistency personified culminating in her maiden WTA Tour singles title and rising to No. 3 in the year-end rankings. Gauf was the youngest player to win the WTA Tour finals since Maria Sharapova in 2004 and the first American to win it since Serena in 2014. Coming into 2024 with confidence, having won her maiden Grand Slam title, the US Open, in 2023, there was a marked improvement in Gauff’s play and even if she didn’t win a Grand Slam – her best was being a semifinalist at the Australian Open – she did give enough evidence that she could be the player to watch out for in 2025.
(The writer is a veteran sports writer who spent his career working for The Indian Express and The Telegraph and Sportsworld. He lives in Chennai.)
from Webdoux