Top 15 Best Female Tennis Players 

Top 15 Best Female Tennis Players 

Tennis is a sport that has witnessed the brilliance of numerous talented athletes, but it is the extraordinary women who have left an outstanding mark on the sport’s history. With their unmatched skills and relentless pursuit of excellence, these female tennis players have captivated fans around the world and etched their names in the Hall of Fame of tennis greatness.

In this article, we highlight the top 15 best female tennis players who have redefined the limits of the game and set new standards for athleticism and achievement. From record-breaking Grand Slam titles to awe-inspiring rivalries and inspiring stories of triumph, these remarkable athletes have left an enduring legacy that continues to inspire generations.

1. Serena Williams

Serena Williams is an American retired professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association for 319 weeks, including a joint-record 186 consecutive weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 five times. She won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. 

She is the only player to accomplish a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. She won the Laureus Sportswoman of the Year award a record four times in 2003, 2010, 2016, and 2018, and in December 2015 was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. She is the highest-earning woman athlete of all time. Read more amazing facts about Serena Williams. 

2. Venus Williams

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Venus Williams is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is widely regarded as one of the all-time greats of the sport.

Williams trails only her sister Serena among active players with the most singles titles. With 22 WTA doubles titles and two mixed doubles titles, her combined total of 73 WTA titles is also second among active players behind Serena. She is also one of only two active players to have reached the singles finals of all four majors, along with Serena.

3. Steffi Graf

Steffi is a German former professional tennis player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in women’s singles for a record 377 weeks and won 22 major singles titles, the second-most since the start of the Open Era in 1968 and the third-most of all-time. 

In 1988, Graf became the first tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam by winning all four major singles titles and the Olympic gold medal in the same calendar year. Furthermore, she is the only tennis player, male or female, to have won each major tournament at least four times. Read more on the 30 Most Famous Women Athletes Of All Time. 

4. Naomi Osaka

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Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champion, with two Australian Open and two US Open titles. 

At the 2018 US Open and the 2019 Australian Open, Osaka won her first two major titles in back-to-back tournaments. She was the first woman to win successive major singles titles since Serena Williams in 2015, and the first to win her first two in successive majors since Jennifer Capriati in 2001. She was also the highest-earning female athlete of all time by annual income in 2020. 

5. Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay is an American former professional tennis player. Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005). She also held the doubles world No. 1 ranking for 32 weeks.

Noted for her powerful and consistent groundstrokes, Davenport won a total of 55 WTA Tour singles titles, including three major titles one each at the Australian Open, the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open, the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the Tour Finals. She also won 38 WTA Tour doubles titles and three Tour Finals. Davenport amassed career earnings of US$22,166,338; currently eighth in the all-time rankings among female tennis players and formerly first, prior to being surpassed by Serena Williams in January 2009

6. Maria Sharapova

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Maria is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2001 to 2020 and was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for 21 weeks. 

She is one of ten women, and the only Russian, to achieve the career Grand Slam. She is also an Olympic medalist, having won silver in women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics. She has been considered as one of the best competitors of her generation.

7. Martina Navratilova

Navratilova is a Czech–born American former professional tennis player. Widely considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, Navratilova won 18 major singles titles, 31 major women’s doubles titles, and 10 major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 59 major titles, the most in the Open Era. Navratilova dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s and 1980s.

Navratilova was ranked as the world No. 1 in singles for a total of 332 weeks, and for a record 237 weeks in doubles, making her the only player in history to have held the top spot in both disciplines for over 200 weeks.

8. Chris Evert

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Chris Evert is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. Evert won 18 major singles titles, including a record seven French Open titles and a joint-record six US Open titles tied with Serena Williams. 

She was ranked world No. 1 for 260 weeks and was the year-end world No. 1 singles player seven times 1974–78, 1980, and 1981. Alongside Martina Navratilova, her greatest rival, Evert dominated women’s tennis in the 1970s and 1980s.

9. Margaret Court

Court is an Australian retired former world No. 1 tennis player and a Christian minister. Considered one of the greatest tennis players of all time, her 24 major singles titles and a total of 64 major titles including 19 Grand Slam women’s doubles and 21 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles are the most in tennis history.

10. Billie Jean King

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Billie is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. King won 39 major titles: 12 in singles, 16 in women’s doubles, and 11 in mixed doubles. King was a member of the victorious United States team in seven Federation Cups and nine Wightman Cups. For three years, she was the U.S. captain in the Federation Cup.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, King was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. The Fed Cup Award of Excellence was bestowed on her in 2010. 

11. Martina Hingis

Martina is a Swiss former professional tennis player. Hingis is the first Swiss player, male or female, to win a major title and attain a world No. 1 ranking. She spent a total of 209 weeks as the singles world No. 1 and 90 weeks as the doubles world No. 1, holding both No. 1 rankings simultaneously for 29 weeks.

She won five major singles titles, 13 major women’s doubles titles, including the Grand Slam in 1998, and seven major mixed doubles titles, for a combined total of 25 major titles. In addition, she won the season-ending WTA Finals two times in singles and three in doubles, an Olympic silver medal in doubles, and a record 17 Tier I singles titles. Click here for more amazing facts about Martina Hingis. 

12. Monica Seles

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Monica is a former world No. 1 tennis player who represented Yugoslavia and the United States. She won nine major singles titles, eight of them as a teenager while representing Yugoslavia, and the final one while representing the United States.

In 1990, Seles became the youngest-ever French Open champion at the age of 16. She went on to win eight major singles titles before her 20th birthday and was the year-end No. 1 in 1991 and 1992.

Regarded by many as one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Seles was named one of the 30 Legends of Women’s Tennis by Time Magazine. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2009.

13. Justine Henin

Henin is a Belgian former world No. 1 tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in tennis, helped establish Belgium as a leading force in women’s tennis alongside Kim Clijsters, and led the country to its first Fed Cup crown in 2001. 

Justine was known for her all-court style of play and for being one of the few female players to use a single-handed backhand.

14. Kim Clijsters

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Kim is a Belgian former professional tennis player. Clijsters reached the world No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles, having held both rankings simultaneously in 2003. She won six major titles, four in singles and two in doubles.

Clijsters was very popular and well-liked as a player, having won the Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award eight times. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017.

15. Sloane Stephens

Sloane is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in total. While 19 years old, Stephens rose to prominence at the 2013 Australian Open with a semifinal run beating world No. 3, Serena Williams. 

In  2017 she won the US Open singles title in her fifth tournament back. She was also awarded WTA Comeback Player of the Year for her successful season. In 2018, she continued her success by winning her first Premier Mandatory title at the Miami Open, reaching a second Grand Slam singles final at the French Open, entering the top 10 for the first time, and finishing runner-up at the WTA Finals.