The tennis season is about to start on a clean slate in under a month, with hundreds of tennis players making the trip Down Under.
The Grand Slam journey begins at the Australian Open, a tournament that has witnessed a surge in first-time winners. The women's tour is as unpredictable as they come. This explains why no player won more than one major title in the whole of 2023, which crowned three new winners.
If that trend continues in 2024, the chances of crowing a first-time Grand Slam champion will increase significantly, and in this article, we shall list the five women who can pull this off.
5. Mirra Andreeva
It takes a super-talented teenager to thrust her name into Grand Slam contention, and Mirra Andreeva fits the bill. The 2023 WTA Newcomer of the Year punched above her weight last season, finishing with a year-end ranking of 57.
Andreeva played on the junior circuit at the turn of the year but made the biggest rankings jump within a 12-month stretch on the WTA tour. The positive thing for Andreeva is that she'll have the luxury of getting direct entry into Grand Salm main draws after breaking the Top 60.
In her debut season on the WTA stage, Andreeva reached the second week of Wimbledon as a qualifier, beating the likes of Barbora Krejcikova and Anastasia Potapova.
Experience is probably her biggest drawback at this moment, but the women's tour has a habit of throwing some of the unlikeliest champions at the Grand Slam almost every season. It would take a brave person to bet against this sizzling 16-year-old from rewriting the history books next year.
Did you know: At 16, Mirra Andreeva is the youngest player in the WTA Top 100.
4. Elina Svitolina
The clock is ticking for Elina Svitolina, who is looking to make the most of her precious time on a tennis court. When you ask tennis fans whether the Ukrainian star is too good of a player not to win a Grand Slam, the answer would be an emphatic yes.
With events in her homeland far from rosy and being occupied at home nurturing her baby, tennis life takes secondary priority these days. But Svitolina has learned that picking up a racket inspires many of her compatriots back home.
It will be some story if she wins her first Grand Slam as a returning mother, which has not been done on a WTA tour in over a decade. And it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Svitolina could win it all.
Did you know: Elina Svitolina was unranked when she rejoined the tour in April 2023 but ended the season in the Top 25.
3. Qinwen Zheng
Qinwen Zheng is an exciting pick capable of conquering 128 women in the Grand Slam main draw. She's already been heralded as the heir to Li Na, the last Chinese woman to win a Grand Slam. Zheng ticks all the boxes on the self-improvement grid, including her ability to remain composed under pressure.
One thing that could be decisive in her quest to land a first Grand Slam is the addition of a Grand Slam-winning coach to her team. Zheng rehired Pere Riba, the Spaniard who guided Coco Gauff to her first major title at the US Open.
Riba and Zheng have worked together in the past and to instant success, with the 21-year-old winning the 2022 WTA Newcomer of the Year. On that front, we can safely conclude they have unfinished business as a pair, and 2024 looks increasingly promising for China's newest star.
Did you know: Qinwen Zheng was the only player who took a set from Iga Swiatek at the 2022 French Open.
2. Jessica Pegula
When you write consistency in tennis, you simply cannot leave out the name Jessica Pegula from the sentence. A powerful ball striker in her own mind, Pegula epitomized the definition of a late bloomer.
After an injury-stricken junior career, the 29-year-old has developed into the most durable athlete on tour and, remarkably, doesn't travel with a full-time fitness coach.
She has stumbled at the quarterfinal stage many times in Grand Slam territory. Still, it is only a matter of when and not if Pegula will break that barrier and potentially win her first major title, and it is hard not to like her chances of doing so next year.
Did you know: Jessica Pegula earned three wins over a World No. 1 in 2023, the most by an American woman since Serena Williams (four) in 2012.
1. Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur's story almost resembles that of the late Jana Novotna. The Czech former World No. 2 lived through three heartbreaks in Grand Slam finals, the most poignant being the 1993 Wimbledon women's final when she crumpled to defeat despite leading Steffi Graf 4-1 in the deciding set.
Novotna memorably wept on the Duchess of Kent’s shoulder in one of the most compelling pictures from that year's event. Jabeur lost her third Grand Slam final at this year's Wimbledon, and when she trudged on the lawns to speak in the trophy presentation, the tears started to flow as if we were being flown back to relive the memory of 30 years ago.
Well, Novotna's story had a happy ending because she came back and won Wimbledon in 1998 - her one and only Grand Slam in singles. Could the Tunisian trailblazer follow suit in a story of parallels? Very likely.
Did you know: Ons Jabeur is the first African and Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam singles final in the Open Era (two at Wimbledon and one at the US Open).
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