Women's Tennis - Season Archive 2023

The season archive consists of a short summary, an overview of news items and a list of rankings.

Season Summary

The 2023 season saw an emergence of a rivalry between four players, who played consistently well during the season. Iga Swiatek stayed on top of the rankings all year, but her lead fluctuated, peaking at Roland Garros and the WTA-finals. Her main challengers were Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff. Sabalenka started strong by winning the Australian Open, beating Rybakina in the final, where Rybakina had ousted Swiatek in the fourth round. Rybakina followed with an impressive win at Indian Wells, beating Sabalenka in the final there. Gauff excelled during the American hardcourt season, winning the US Open, beating Sabalenka in the final. At the end of the season, Swiatek pulled away decisively by winning both Beijing and the WTA-finals in Cancun.

Some other players approached the level of these top four players. Marketa Vondrousova entered the mix by winning Wimbledon, reaching #3 in the rankings, but her level dropped later in the season. Jessica Pegula stayed close all season and finished the season at #4 by reaching the final in Cancun (lost to Swiatek). Ons Jabeur excelled at Wimbledon, only to fall at the final hurdle, losing to Vondrousova. And Karolina Muchova was resurgent this year and reached the final of Roland Garros, which she lost to Swiatek. Muchova finished the season at #6.

The rising star of 2023 was Mirra Andreeva, who entered the rankings in April, at the age of 15, winning two W60-tournaments in Switzerland and then reaching the fourth round at Madrid, beating three top 40 players (Fernandez, Haddad Maia and Linette). She followed by reaching the third round of Roland Garros as a qualifier, taking a set off of Coco Gauff in her last match. At Wimbledon, she reached the fourth round as a qualifier, losing to Madison Keys in a close three-setter. With a rating points gain of 563 points, she ended the season at #31. Other rising stars to watch are Emma Navarro and Diana Shnaider. Navarro's rise kicked off with a victory at a W100-tournament in Charleston in April, followed by another victory in Charlottesville a week later. At WTA-level, she reached semifinals in Bad Homburg and San Diego, and she finished the season with another Charleston W100-victory, ending the season at #51. Shnaider excelled in the pre-season and steadily kept creeping up the rankings, finishing at #83.

The most regressing players of 2023 were Zhang Shuai (-341, #147), Alize Cornet (-304, #106) and Caroline Garcia (-263, #30). Garcia had topped the progress rankings in 2022.

The rising stars of 2023 (top 10) were:

#	Player	Start rating	End rating	Difference
1	Andreeva, Mirra	4474	5037	+563
2	Navarro, Emma	4565	4956	+391
3	Shnaider	4474	4813	+339
4	Stearns	4507	4834	+327
5	Muchova	5038	5332	+294
6	Parks	4488	4765	+277
7	Arango	4414	4683	+269
8	Wang Xinyu	4691	4958	+267
9	Gauff	5194	5451	+257
10	Bektas	4437	4672	+235