The Decade’s Top Ten Players, Part 1

As the decade rapidly draws to a close, it seems an appropriate time to reflect on the players who have shaped the WTA Tour over the past 10 years.

Several women have built exceptional playing careers during this time and have entertained us with brilliant shotmaking, competitiveness, rivalries, comebacks and triumphs, taking women’s tennis to a level well above what it was 10 years prior.

Ranking the 10 best players of this decade was a difficult exercise. Selecting the final 10 was a challenge in itself, before even considering where those players ranked compared with one another. Five criteria were applied to create the final list: performances in Grand Slam tournaments, total titles won, weeks ranked World No. 1, years ending the season ranked No. 1, and the number of years a player finished the season in the Top 10. Grand Slam triumphs were given the heaviest weighting of all criteria.

It is important to note that all achievements and statistics mentioned apply to this decade only. Although Serena Williams has won 11 Grand Slam singles titles, she is noted in this article as having won 10, given her first major title came at the 1999 US Open. In addition, the list has been crafted based on achievements in singles play only.

(10) Svetlana Kuznetsova
The enigmatic Russian takes her place among the decade’s 10 best on the strength of her two Grand Slam titles – the first as an upstart at the 2004 US Open, and the second five years later at Roland Garros in 2009. In between she reached major finals at the 2006 French Open and 2007 US Open and peaked at World No. 2 in September 2007.

Since 2002, she captured 12 titles and finished the year inside the Top 10 on five occasions. Her forehand – among the biggest weapons in the women’s game – is complimented by outstanding athleticism, a quality first and second serve, and polished net skills.

A player of Kuznetsova’s raw talent should find herself higher on this list, but wandering concentration and motivation, her inability to capture the No. 1 ranking and an unenviable run of 10 defeats from 11 finals (between October 2006 and April 2009) counted against her. However, at just 24 years of age, Kuznetsova has plenty of time to build upon her already impressive career achievements.

(9) Martina Hingis
One of the most gifted players in the history of tennis, Martina Hingis is a worthy inclusion in this Top 10 list, despite playing in just five of the past 10 years. Dominant at the beginning of the decade, the Swiss Miss held firm the No. 1 ranking for much of 2000 and 2001, and reached three consecutive Australian Open finals from 2000-2002.

Following an injury-induced hiatus from the sport during 2003 to 2005, Hingis enjoyed a highly successful comeback in 2006, capturing the Italian Open, climbing to World No. 6 and qualifying for the Year-End Championships.

Yet Hingis endured some unfortunate events throughout the decade, failing to claim a Grand Slam crown (highlighted by a heartbreaking finals’ loss to Jennifer Capriati in Melbourne in 2002 during which she held four match points), and testing positive for cocaine in mid-2007, the resulting two-year ban ultimately ending her career. Her uncanny court sense and artistry are sorely missed.

(8) Jennifer Capriati
The American won only six titles during the decade. It just so happens that three of them were Grand Slams. Jennifer Capriati completed one of the most emphatic comebacks in professional sporting history by capturing the 2001 Australian and French titles, before defending her crown in Melbourne in 2002.

She rose to World No. 1 in October 2001 and enjoyed another three (albeit brief) stints at the top in 2002. Her hard-hitting baseline game, retrieving ability and fighting spirit allowed her to adapt to all surfaces and experience success against most of her contemporaries.

Capriati came close to adding to her sparkling resume following her last major triumph, but fell short in four Grand Slam semifinals, most notably in third-set tiebreakers at the US Open in 2003 and 2004. Following that 2004 US Open defeat, Capriati played just one more tournament before suffering a chronic shoulder injury, and has not returned to the tour since.

(7) Lindsay Davenport
Along with Justine Henin, Davenport had the most year-end World No. 1 ranking accolades during the decade, finishing the season as the top-ranked female in 2001, 2004 and 2005. However, she failed to win a Grand Slam title in any of those years, with her only major win coming at the 2000 Australian Open.

Despite reaching a further four Slam finals, she was stopped by a Williams sister on each occasion. But Davenport’s stats were nonetheless impressive, including 64 weeks at No. 1, 29 titles and five year-end Top 10 finishes. Her cleanly-struck groundstrokes – exhibiting some of the finest technique in the sport – were complimented by a dominant serve and formidable return, and successfully counteracted her slightly awkward court coverage. After a brief return to tennis following the birth of her first child, Davenport appears to have hung up the racquets for good after delivering her second baby in mid-2009.

(6) Amelie Mauresmo
The recently-retired Frenchwoman will be remembered as one of tennis’s great artists, with an attractive, full-flowing game and a complete array of shots. Mauresmo possessed a solid serve, exceptional net skills, outstanding athleticism, and a backhand that was widely considered among the sport’s best.

She achieved consistent success throughout the decade, finishing with 24 titles (on all surfaces), six year-end Top 10 finishes and 39 weeks as the World No. 1. Her finest season came in 2006, in which she won her first Grand Slam title in Australia, before serving-and-volleying her way to a popular victory at Wimbledon.

A player with such talent probably could have achieved a lot more in the game; Mauresmo indeed fell victim on many occasions to her fragile psyche. She frequently underperformed in front of her home crowd at Roland Garros, and failed to close out several big matches during the decade despite large leads. However, this simply made her more endearing and popular with fans across the world.

Matt Trollope is a journalist from Melbourne, Australia. He has covered the past two Australian Opens for the tournament’s official website. The second part of Matt’s article is available here.