When it comes to women and sports, tennis has an integral role to play with its history of achievements and accomplishments. In the last few decades, there have been several iconic female tennis players who have been successful and created history through their performances. Here are a few top female tennis players who are considered legends of the game.
Top Female Tennis Players
Serena Williams
She could almost easily be called the best female tennis player in history. She has won all four Grand Slams twice, Wimbledon seven times and US Open five times. She has also won two Olympic Golds in her career. After a remarkable career of 27 years, Serena announced her retirement after the US Open 2022.
Venus Williams
Venus Williams has won 6 Grand Slam tournaments along with Serena Williams who has played doubles with her. She has also won three US Open Doubles titles and three French Open Doubles titles which makes her the most successful doubles player.
She has won a total of 9 tournaments in her career. According to news reports, Venus unlike her sister does not plan to retire in the near future. The 42-year-old believes that her game is not over yet.
Steffi Graff
Steffi Graff is the only female tennis player of all time to have won Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles. She has also won two Olympic Golds and two Wimbledons. She has also won three Australian Open titles.
She played at Stanford University which enabled her to be the first American player to qualify for all four Grand Slam tournaments and win the Wimbledon doubles title with Barbara Schett in 1988.
Serena Williams broke her record by defeating Steffi Graf in 2000 at Wimbledon and she also managed to equal it again when she defeated Venus Williams in 2003 at the Australian Open that was the last marker of any sort until Serena took over Steffi's record in 2011.
Martina Navratilova
She is the most successful female tennis player with 24 Grand Slam titles while she was also the only one who won the Wimbledon title six times.
She won the 1972 French Open at 5-2 in the finals and she was just one game away from winning her first Grand Slam title in any sport. She lost to fellow Czechoslovakia's Jan Kodes and that was her last defeat of all time.
Martina has commanded almost a quarter of all grand slam titles which is quite phenomenal.
Margaret Court
She is the only player in history to have won more than 1000 matches in her career which makes her an extraordinary tennis player on the field.
She won 24 grand slam titles which is the most for any woman player in the world. She has also won several WTA Championships at different stages of her career. She was able to remain on top as one of the top female tennis players in the rankings for an astonishing 5 years from 1964 to 1969 and she remains a great tennis legend even at this stage of her life with her net worth being close to 10 million dollars while she is also competing without any aid against lesser players at 78 years old.
Billie Jean King
She is the only player who managed to win six grand slam titles in her career to date. She has won three Wimbledon titles, two French Open and one US Open title. She has won a couple of doubles titles as well.
She was also a true champion outside the court as she played an instrumental role in growing up in women's tennis. She established the Women's Tennis Association which played a key role in making women featured on mainstream media just like their male counterparts and ensuring that female players get paid at par with what male players make from their matches.
Chris Evert
She is the only woman who has won all the 3 grand slam titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She also won 2 French Opens and 2 Wimbledon titles along with her Olympic Gold.
She was able to remain world number 1 for a great long time. She was also able to win at least one grand slam event at every tournament she played.
Monica Seles
She is considered to be the best female tennis player in history. Though she had a short career which lasted only 5 years till 1993, she managed to win 5 Grand Slam titles mainly because of her supreme skill and control over the game. She also won an Olympic Gold in singles while playing doubles as well. Her record remains intact till now despite having a longer career than many other players. She is also the first and only player who managed to win 3 grand slam titles consecutively twice in her career along with her Olympic Gold in 1992 which made her the most successful female tennis player ever.
Justine Henin
She is one of the best women's tennis players of all time. She is a Belgian who was able to win 3 Wimbledon titles while playing doubles with Kim Clijsters and also she won 2 French Open and 2 Australian Open titles as well. She was able to stay on top of the rankings for most of her career till she retired from tennis in 2009.
She was considered to be the best female tennis player in history till Maria Sharapova took over that position. She was also able to win 6 grand slam titles in singles which made her an extraordinary player even though she never won a doubles grand slam tournament during her entire career.
Evonne Goolagong
She is considered to be the best female tennis player of all time after Margaret Court. She won 3 Wimbledon titles, 3 French Open Titles, 1 Wimbledon and 2 US Open Doubles Titles. She was ranked as one of the top female tennis players for a long time.
Along with that she also played doubles with Australian male tennis players in some of the tournaments which was rare at that time. She was quite rebellious and she instilled confidence in women players through her achievements.
Conclusion
The above-mentioned tennis legends are considered to be the best female tennis players in history. They have all spanned a long career and they remain in the top 5 of the WTA Player Ranking today. It's remarkable that these women have all excelled in their ways and they will always be remembered for what they have done for the sport. Their legacy shall never be forgotten as each of them paved the way for many other women who came after them and also for all future generations to come.
FAQs
Who is the best woman tennis player?
The best woman tennis player is some sort of unending debate because there are a lot of greats in the world of female tennis players
Who are the top 10 women tennis players?
The top 10 women tennis players are already listed above in this article in no particular