We spent final week counting down our record of the highest 100 athletes of the twenty first century, and two ladies’s tennis gamers made the record, beginning with Serena Williams at No. 2 general.
We additionally voted on an general prime 10 for ladies’s tennis. Who else made the record of a number of the biggest ladies’s tennis gamers of the 2000s?
Key accomplishments: 23-time main champion (second most by any participant all time), ladies’s file 365 main match wins, 73 profession titles (fifth most by a lady within the Open period).
There may be little that Williams did not obtain throughout her record-setting profession, together with profitable 23 main titles. Nevertheless it may need been her final one which was probably the most unbelievable. She wanted to win yet another Grand Slam to interrupt the tie with Steffi Graf for many within the Open period (which started in 1968) — a mark Williams mentioned she had been “chasing for a extremely very long time” — and remained within the 2017 Australian Open draw even after discovering out she was pregnant shortly earlier than competitors started. She was in peak Serena kind, by no means dropping a set en path to a last showdown together with her sister Venus. She defeated Venus to take sole possession of the file.
Williams performed in 4 extra main finals after her return from maternity go away and a sophisticated childbirth. She did not win one other title. “The way in which I see it, I ought to have had 30-plus Grand Slams,” Williams wrote in Vogue in a 2022 essay asserting her impending retirement. “I did not get there. … However I confirmed up 23 instances, and that is high-quality. Truly it is extraordinary.” — D’Arcy Maine
Key accomplishments: Seven-time main singles champ, five-time Wimbledon champ, 270 main match wins (fifth most by a lady within the Open period), a file 89 profession main appearances in singles.
The elder Williams sister burst onto the tennis scene as an enthusiastic and joyful teenager, and certain would have gained many extra titles if not for the arrival of Serena. Whereas Williams’ outcomes have been outstanding, and she or he has probably the most main titles amongst lively ladies on tour, she has been equally influential off the courtroom as a champion for gender equality in tennis and past.
Whereas advocating for equal pay at Wimbledon, Williams requested match officers at a gathering a easy query: “Would you need your daughter or your sister or your mom or your spouse or a liked one to be a lady paid much less?” Wimbledon began providing equal prize cash for women and men in 2007. Williams known as the achievement “one of the best second of my profession” in 2023. — D’Arcy Maine
1:08
ESPN’s High 100 Athletes: Venus Williams
Try the athletic feats of Venus Williams, one of many biggest tennis stars in historical past and No. 86 on ESPN’s record of the highest 100 athletes of the previous 25 years.
Key accomplishments: 5-time Grand Slam champion, No. 1 participant for a complete of 21 weeks, 36 profession WTA titles.
She gained Wimbledon at age 17, beating Serena Williams in straight units within the 2004 last. She was the world No. 1 by 18. She was some of the marketable athletes on the earth whereas she was nonetheless a youngster. And regardless of all of the expectations and pitfalls that include that, she managed to create an extended profession for herself, profitable 5 Grand Slam titles, wrapping up a Profession Slam in 2012 and ending 10 seasons ranked within the WTA prime 10. A protracted shedding streak to Serena prevented her from racking up an all-timer’s résumé — she misplaced 19 straight to the GOAT, together with eight straight in Slams after her Wimbledon win. However within the Open period, solely 10 ladies have gained extra Slam titles. — Invoice Connelly
Key accomplishments: Since Jan. 1, 2000: 42 WTA singles titles, 7 Grand Slam titles, Olympic gold singles medal, inducted into Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame in 2016.
She felt like a throwback, even within the late Nineteen Nineties. Standing solely 5-foot-5, Justine Henin performed a slice-and-dice recreation with pace, approach, tenacity and an totally excellent, one-handed backhand. And whilst the sport was taken over by the facility of the Williams sisters, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo, Henin landed loads of blows. She went 23-26 in opposition to these 4 gamers, and she or he was 12-5 in Grand Slam semifinals and 7-5 in finals. Henin completed 2003, 2006 and 2007 ranked No. 1 on the earth, and after her shock retirement within the spring of 2008, introduced on by damage and fatigue, she returned in 2010 and instantly made one other Slam last as a wild card on the Australian Open. Elbow issues pressured her to retire for good the subsequent 12 months, however her presence assured that the highest of the ladies’s recreation had loads of selection for many of a decade. — Connelly
Key accomplishments: 5-time Grand Slam champion, 20 profession WTA titles, present No. 1 participant on the earth.
The factor about rating gamers primarily based on a particular time frame is that it is laborious to determine what to do about somebody like Iga Swiatek. She has already gained 5 Slam titles and 10 WTA 1000 occasions; within the Open period, solely Serena Williams and Steffi Graf can prime her in bowl classes. She has gained as many Slams as Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis and extra 1000s than Monica Seles and Venus Williams. She has definitively earned a spot on this record, however she’s additionally simply 23 years previous. She’s just one Slam title behind the place Serena Williams was at 23. She has gained as many French Opens (4) as Rafael Nadal, the king of clay, had on the similar age. She hasn’t even found out grass but. Swiatek’s trajectory is in contrast to something we have seen since Serena on the ladies’s facet. She’s already a Corridor of Famer, however she’s solely getting began. — Connelly
Key accomplishments: 4-time main champion in singles, 2-time main winner in doubles, 41 profession titles, No. 1 in singles and doubles in 2003.
Kim Clijsters had already loved a stellar profession — reaching 12 Slam semis and 5 finals, profitable one — when she introduced her retirement in 2007 and gave delivery to her daughter, Jada, in 2008. When she returned to the tour in the summertime of 2009, did she ease into her comeback? Not a lot. She beat top-10 opponents at every of her first two tournaments again, then beat Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki to win the 2009 US Open virtually out of the blue. She defended her title with a romp over Vera Zvonareva the subsequent 12 months, then gained the Australian Open in 2011 too. — Connelly
Key accomplishments: 4-time Grand slam champion, completed 2019 as No. 1 participant on the earth.
After floating across the prime 50 for a few years, Naomi Osaka took the world by storm on the age of 20 in 2018. She gained Indian Wells to leap into the highest 30. She walloped Madison Keys and Serena Williams by matching 6-2 6-4 scores to win the US Open and transfer into the highest 10. She gained the Australian Open the next 12 months to maneuver to No. 1. She gained the US Open and Australian Open double once more in 2020 and ’21, all of the whereas changing into some of the marketable ladies in sports activities historical past. Battling damage and burnout, she stepped away from the tour and had her first youngster in 2023. Already a Corridor of Famer, she returned in 2024 and almost beat clay-court queen Iga Swiatek within the French Open. Her second chapter may find yourself being simply as fascinating as her first. — Connelly
8. Ash Barty
Key accomplishments: Three-time Grand Slam champion, 15 singles titles, ladies’s world No. 1 for 121 weeks.
The 5-foot-5 Australian was the kid of golfers and had the hand-eye coordination and athleticism to play any sport on the earth. She selected tennis for good after dabbling in skilled cricket, surged into the WTA prime 20 at age 21, gained three Slam titles in a nine-tournament run, completed three straight years at No. 1 … after which retired after profitable the Australian Open, her dwelling Slam, at age 25. Her serve was far larger than her stature, and she or he may win matches with both energy or protection. She was absurdly well-rounded, she packed a Corridor of Fame profession into nearly a four-year interval, after which stop to have a well-rounded life. All the time go away them wanting extra, proper? — Connelly
Key accomplishments: Three-time main champion, silver medal in 2016 Olympics, 14 profession titles.
As former professional participant and tennis commentator Andrea Petkovic put it in her Finite Jest e-newsletter, “If tennis was performed from the baseline solely, Angie Kerber would have been the best feminine tennis participant of all instances. I do know that as a result of I’ve performed the best feminine tennis participant of all instances. Sadly for Angie, a serve is required in tennis.” Even with out an overwhelming serve, Kerber rode protection and impeccable motion and anticipation to unimaginable heights. From 2016 to ’18, she gained three Slams — two with finals victories over Serena Williams — and reached two different semifinals. She completed 2016 ranked No. 1 on the earth. After having a toddler in 2023, she returned to the tour in 2024 and, at age 36, with nothing extra to show, she has scored a few top-20 wins. — Connelly
Key accomplishments: Two-time main champion, 25 profession titles, gained Olympic silver in 2004.
Blessed with each energy and excellent approach (and a degree of data that made her a profitable coach for gamers equivalent to Victoria Azarenka, Marion Bartoli and Andy Murray after retirement), Mauresmo burst onto the scene with a run to the 1999 Australian Open last at age 19. She suffered numerous shut calls and heartbreaks, however late in a run of 16 quarterfinals in 19 Slams, Mauresmo lastly broke via, profitable each the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. She completed 4 years within the WTA prime 5 and 7 within the prime 10, and she or he overcame the ghosts of early failures to finally retire triumphant. –– Connelly
