In December of the previous year, we requested your predictions for the year-end WTA Top 10 rankings in 2023. Today, John Bolan, our longstanding contest organizer, reveals the winner.
Our number one predictor is Ron Buckmire!
Ron did a tremendous job picking eight of the top ten finishers! With all the great players to choose from in 2023, he chose the best of the best. As a prize, we will send him Maria Sharapova’s autobiography “Unstoppable”.
Ron’s list:
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Aryna Sabalenka
3. Caroline Garcia
4. Ons Jabeur
5. Coco Gauff
6. Barbora Krejcikova
7. Jessica Pegula
8. Elena Rybakina
9. Veronika Kudermetova
10. Maria Sakkari
Actual season-ending Top 10 WTA rankings for 2023:
1. Iga Swiatek
2. Aryna Sabalenka
3. Coco Gauff
4. Elena Rybakina
5. Jessica Pegula
6. Ons Jabeur
7. Marketa Vondrousova
8. Karolina Muchova
9. Maria Sakkari
10. Barbora Krejcikova
None of our contestants chose Marketa Vondrousova or Karolina Muchova in their Top 10 picks. This made picking eight winners even tougher to accomplish. A few of the contestants picked players who did not compete the entire year of 2023 for various reasons. These players include Naomi Osaka, Amanda Anisimova, Simona Halep, and Anett Kontaveit.
Swiatek & Sabalenka, 2023’s dominating force
During 2023, women’s tennis had great young players maturing into consistent winners. Seemingly overnight, the WTA included great, mostly younger players along with a few veterans in their Top 40. Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka led the rankings the entire year with Aryna becoming number one after the US Open for a few weeks until Iga regained the first position.
A new era in women’s tennis: Youth takes center stage
None of the top four players are over 25. None of the top ten players are over 29. Number three, Coco Gauff, is only 19 and the number one player for the past two years, Iga Swiatek, is only 22. This new generation has arrived in force! It seems obvious the women have their new generation of stars ahead of the men’s tour.
Success stories of Ukrainian players
Elina Svitolina had huge success on her return from becoming a mom with tremendous matches and a number 25 finish for the part of the year she was active. She led four Ukrainians who all finished in the Top 40. Anhelina Kalinina finished at number 27 and has real potential to become a top ten player. Lesia Tsurenko is the veteran of the group at age 34. She had a very good year and finished 31st in the rankings. Number 39 is Marta Kostyuk who just recently became a married woman at age 21. Let’s see how being a newlywed will affect her game in 2024.
Vera Zvonareva: A resilient champion
Vera Zvonareva, who is also a mom and 39 years old, won three matches to qualify for the singles main draw at the US Open. The Russian also played mixed doubles and women’s doubles, where she finished as a finalist with Laura Siegemund. She went on to win the WTA Finals doubles championship in Cancun.
Vera is a former world number two singles player, a single finalist at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010. She won doubles at the Australian Open in 2012 and at the US Open in 2006 and 2020. She also has two mixed doubles trophies from the US Open in 2004 and Wimbledon 2006. Additionally, she won the bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Keep reading the Women’s Tennis Blog. Soon, you will have a chance to pick your Top 10 for 2024.
