A closer look at Sabalenka and 2024’s Top 10 players

The Top 10 — unless it’s a whimsical countdown on late-night television — is a glorious group to be part of. It’s the definition of success, acknowledgment of a distinct separation from the pack.

The world has more than 100 million tennis players, from amateurs to professionals across some 200 countries, and this is the crème de la crème. While the late-season race for No.1 between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka in the PIF WTA Rankings was an absorbing competition, that wasn’t the only storyline.

Six of last year’s year-end Top 10 worked their way back into 2024’s final standings. Coco Gauff, at No.3, and No.10 Barbora Krejcikova wound up exactly where they started. Jasmine Paolini, Zheng Qinwen and Emma Navarro cracked the difficult code for the first time, Daria Kasatkina for the second.

Here’s a closer look at those elite players — how they got there and where they might be headed in 2025:

No.1 Aryna Sabalenka

How she started 2024: No.2

How she got to No.1: By winning her second consecutive title at the Australian Open, then bookending the major season with a victory at the US Open. Sabalenka, who grabbed Iga Swiatek’s No.1 ranking for eight weeks near the end of 2023, vaulted past her at the WTA Finals and now enjoys a more than 1,000-point lead.

Prospects for 2025: She’ll likely be the favorite to execute a three-peat in Melbourne, where she’s produced a 22-5 record. Sabalenka is determined to continue to evolve her game, focusing on moving forward more often and perfecting her drop shot.

Next: Scheduled to play the WTA 500 in Brisbane, where she’ll be the top seed.

No.2 Iga Swiatek

How she started 2024: No.1

How she got to No.2: Swiatek had a fabulous first half of the season, winning four WTA 1000 titles (Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome), followed by a third straight Roland Garros crown. The second half? By most standards a rousing success, but disappointing considering her talent — she failed to win a title but took the singles bronze medal at the Olympics in Paris. Swiatek took two months off after the US Open, in part, to serve a one-month doping ban.

Prospects for 2025: Swiatek will be eager to start the season fresh, with new coach Wim Fissette at the helm. Her serve, she said, will be a major emphasis. So will recapturing that No.1 ranking.

Next: Scheduled to play United Cup in Australia.

No.3 Coco Gauff

How she started 2024: No.3

How she got to No.3: Gauff didn’t win a major, but she got to the semifinals of the first two Slams, in Melbourne and Paris. She arrived in Riyadh with a new coaching tandem, Matt Daly and Jean-Christophe Faurel, and promptly won the WTA Finals, collecting a record payout of $4.805 million.

Prospects for 2025: How will her team set about locking down her forehand and serve? Will she try to close out more points at net like her top competition? Gauff, who turns 21 in March, still has room to grow her game; she’s the youngest in the Top 10 by more than two years.

Next: Scheduled to play United Cup.

No. 4 Jasmine Paolini

How she started 2024: No.30

How she got to No.4: With a wonderful, career-defining season. The 28-year-old Italian won her first WTA 1000 in Dubai and followed that up with surprising finals appearances at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. And then there was an Olympic gold medal in doubles with Sara Errani. That leap of 26 spots was second most among Top 10 players.

Prospects for 2025: After that breakthrough season, can Paolini duplicate her success? This was the year she figured it out, how to combine her speed, an uncanny sense of timing and surprising power. Paolini won 18 Grand Slam matches — 14 more than her previous career total. That’s a lot of points to defend.

Next: Scheduled to play United Cup

No.5 Zheng Qinwen

How she started 2024: No.15

How she got to No.5: By harnessing her power and showing growing maturity under former (and present) coach Pere Riba. Zheng reached the final at the Australian Open and then, by her own admission, basked in that glory for a little too long. In Paris, she cashed in on her dazzling potential, winning the Olympic gold medal in singles. That got her started on a second half roll that saw her win 26 of 32 matches and the 2024 Shot of the Year.

Prospects for 2025: Get ready for a heavy dose of the powerful, charismatic game we saw in her last appearance, at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. Zheng beat Elena Rybakina and Paolini in group play, then Krejcikova in the semifinals. The rousing final went to Gauff — in a third-set tiebreak. At 22, Zheng is the second youngest in the Top 10.

Next: Scheduled to play United Cup.

No.6 Elena Rybakina

How she started 2024: No.4

How she got to No.6: Mark the 2024 season for Rybakina as incomplete. Dogged by injury and illness, she still managed to win 42 matches and lose only 11 — for a .792 winning percentage, third to Swiatek (.871) and Sabalenka (.800). She did enough early, winning titles in Brisbane, Abu Dhabi and Stuttgart and making the finals in Doha and Miami to stay in the Top 10.

Prospects for 2025: Based on her age (25) and the likelihood of a healthier season, Rybakina might have more upside than anyone in the Top 10. And that’s without factoring in new coach, Goran Ivanisevic. He was a hard-serving, aggressive player himself, who like Rybakina has a lone Wimbledon title on his resume. We can’t wait to see how he tweaks her game.

Next: Scheduled to play the United Cup.

No.7 Jessica Pegula

How she started 2024: No.5

How she got to No.7: She scuffled early on with nagging injuries, but put together an impressive late flurry to qualify for the WTA Finals. It began with a title in Toronto, then runs to the finals in Cincinnati and New York. Pegula lost to Sabalenka in both of those matches, but secured her spot among the Top 10.

Prospects for 2025: After reaching the quarterfinals of the other three Grand Slams a total of five times, Pegula broke through at the US Open, beating Swiatek and Karolina Muchova to get to the final. Going forward, this should give her some serious momentum.

Next: Scheduled to play in Brisbane.

No.8 Emma Navarro

How she started 2024: No.38

How she got to No.8: No one in the Top 10 climbed higher than Navarro, who won 54 matches — a total surpassed only by the No.1 and No.2 players. She won a career-first title in Hobart and her rapid ascension was captured by improving results in the majors: Australian Open (3^rd round), Roland Garros (4^th round), Wimbledon (quarterfinals) and US Open (semifinals).

Prospects for 2025: Navarro, who won a NCAA singles championship as a freshman at the University of Virginia, has been a terrific professional. She’s 23 years old and is heading into only her third full season on the WTA Tour.

Next: Scheduled to play in Brisbane.

No.9 Daria Kasatkina

How she started 2024: No.18

How she got to No.9: By being super consistent. Kasatkina won two titles, in Ningbo and Eastbourne, but she also reached four other finals — in Seoul, Adelaide, Abu Dhabi and Charleston. Those were achieved on three different surfaces, underlining Kasatkina’s diverse skill set.

Prospects for 2025: She turns 28 in May — the age when a number of players have lately come into their own. She’ll be especially eager to erase her one-match performance as an alternate in Riyadh, winning only a single game against Swiatek.

Next: Scheduled to play in Brisbane.

No.10 Barbora Krejcikova

How she started 2024: No.10

How she got to No.10: On July 1, the 28-year-old from the Czech Republic was ranked No.32. Two weeks later, she returned to the Top 10 after stunning the tennis world by winning the Wimbledon title. Krejcikova has always been a clutch player — she defeated Rybakina and Paolini in her last two matches at the All England Club.

Prospects for 2025: Krejcikova, who was oft injured, won only 21 matches this year and will be keen to return to her former form. She carried a nagging back ailment into Riyadh.

Next: Krejcikova is scheduled to play in Adelaide.