At the recent 2025 French Open, a remarkable display of top-tier talent unfolded in the women`s draw. All eight top seeds successfully navigated their way to the fourth round (Round of 16). Five of these eight had previously reached at least two Grand Slam finals, and the only one who hadn`t, Mirra Andreeva, is a rising star who just turned 18. While wildcard Lois Boisson made a surprising run to the semifinals, notably defeating both Andreeva and the No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, the tournament culminated in a highly anticipated final battle between the world`s top two players, Aryna Sabalenka and eventual champion Coco Gauff.
This performance was a powerful demonstration of star power on the women`s tour. It marked the first time since the 2005 Australian Open that all top eight seeds reached at least the fourth round of a major. Comparing the current era to the mid-2000s is high praise; that 2005 Australian Open field included legends like Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport, and Amelie Mauresmo, players who would collectively claim 43 Slam titles, reach 73 finals, and make 198 quarterfinal appearances. The WTA`s star power was extraordinary then, and the 2025 French Open field came impressively close to matching it.
However, just days later, Wimbledon 2025 has presented a vastly different scenario. Four of the top nine seeds—including No. 2 Gauff, No. 3 Pegula, No. 5 Zheng Qinwen (the 2024 Olympic gold medalist), and No. 9 Paula Badosa (a semifinalist at the 2025 Australian Open)—all suffered defeat in the opening round. Wimbledon has earned a reputation as a venue for unpredictable outcomes in the women`s game for some time, and the record-breaking heat in London this year appears to have amplified the wildness.
The concepts of “depth” and “star power” can sometimes be seen as contradictory. If a highly-ranked player is vulnerable to losing against a wide array of opponents, one could argue either that the tour possesses incredible depth, or conversely, that the elite players lack sufficient dominance. Ultimately, one`s perspective often determines what they choose to see.
In the span of just a few weeks, the women`s tour has showcased both a magnificent display of top-tier talent at one Grand Slam and an astonishing exhibition of parity early in another. Despite the numerous first-round upsets, the second-round matches in the women`s draw are still packed with compelling encounters. This recent volatility and the quality of matchups suggest that the women`s tour is arguably in a stronger state than it has been for quite some time.
Combining Star Power and Pervasive Depth
While the definition of “greatness” is inherently subjective, induction into the Hall of Fame serves as a generally accepted benchmark. Currently, the women`s rankings feature at least three players who appear well on their way to future induction.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has reached 11 semifinals in her last 14 Grand Slam appearances and has contested the last three major finals. Her resume includes three Grand Slam titles and nine WTA 1000-level victories among her 20 career titles, making a compelling case for Hall of Fame recognition.
Fourth-ranked Iga Swiatek, at just 24 years old, already boasts five Grand Slam titles and 10 WTA 1000 trophies. Before her recent loss to Sabalenka at the French Open, she was matching Rafael Nadal`s pace for Roland Garros titles at a comparable age. Her 125 weeks spent at world No. 1 rank sixth all-time, placing her in the esteemed company of Graf, Navratilova, S. Williams, Evert, and Hingis. And remarkably, she is only now entering what is traditionally considered an athlete`s prime.
Despite being only 21, Coco Gauff has already secured two Grand Slam titles (among her 10 overall tour victories) and reached five Slam semifinals. She holds a winning 6-5 record against Sabalenka and has recently turned the tide against Swiatek, winning their last three encounters in straight sets. While there`s no rigid checklist for Hall of Fame entry, Gauff`s accomplishments clearly position her on that trajectory. Her career to date is already remarkably decorated.
If we accept that “future Hall of Famer” is a strong indicator of elite status, consider the significant number of players who have managed to defeat these three undeniable greats. Just recently at Wimbledon, Coco Gauff was upset by Dayana Yastremska in straight sets. Yastremska, who has been ranked as high as 21st and reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2024, now has five career wins against players ranked seventh or higher. Despite a recent losing streak that dropped her ranking to 42nd and left her unseeded, she was formidable against Gauff, one of the tour`s best returners, allowing only a single break point opportunity.
Jelena Ostapenko, another player with a Grand Slam title, holds a dominant 6-0 head-to-head record against Iga Swiatek and defeated Sabalenka in straight sets in Stuttgart. Yet, she is currently ranked only 21st. Elena Rybakina, a two-time Grand Slam finalist and one-time champion, has a competitive 4-5 record against Swiatek and has won four of her last seven matches against Sabalenka, but sits at No. 11 in the rankings. Jessica Pegula maintains greater week-to-week consistency than Ostapenko or Rybakina and has a respectable 11-15 record against the trio, but has only advanced past the quarterfinals in one Grand Slam. Jasmine Paolini swept Gauff in straight sets twice this spring and reached two Slam finals last year, but hasn`t advanced past the fourth round at a major since Wimbledon 2024.
So many women are demonstrating significant upside and peak performance potential that simply showing glimpses of brilliance is no longer enough to consistently rank among the very top; players must deliver high-level tennis week after week.
Donna Vekic reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year and won silver at the 2024 Paris Olympics, but is currently ranked 25th. Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka holds a solid 7-11 record against WTA top 20 players since returning from maternity leave in early 2024, yet she is ranked 53rd. Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 US Open champion, defeated both Rybakina and Vekic this spring while recovering from injuries, but her year-to-date record is 8-8, and ranked 146th, she missed Wimbledon qualification.
Another way to gauge depth is the simultaneous presence of star-quality talent across multiple generations. The WTA currently excels in this regard.
Utilizing results-based Elo ratings, three distinct age groups are strongly represented among the world`s top players: players aged 23 and under (including Gauff, Andreeva, and Zheng), players aged 24 to 28 (like Sabalenka, Swiatek, and Rybakina), and those aged 29 and older (such as Pegula, Paolini, and Keys). Each of these categories contains at least three players within the global top nine and at least eight within the top 30. The younger generation, including Gauff, Andreeva, Amanda Anisimova (who recently entered the top 10), Emma Raducanu, and others, is thriving. However, tournament fields are also consistently populated with experienced veterans who have achieved past Grand Slam breakthroughs, including Ons Jabeur (currently 44th), Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (50th), Danielle Collins (54th), Maria Sakkari (77th), and Victoria Azarenka (87th). Additionally, players like Paolini, Keys, and Vekic have shown renewed or elevated form in the past year.
Winning without playing at your absolute peak form is exceedingly difficult in the current environment. The standard is so high that at the grass-court tournament in Berlin in June, prominent players like Jabeur, Sakkari, Sofia Kenin, Anna Kalinskaya, and Ajla Tomljanovic—with a combined one Slam title, five finals, seven semifinals, and 15 quarterfinals—were all competing in the qualification draw. Of these, only Kenin made it into the main draw.
A Stacked Second Round
While it may be tougher for top stars to maintain consistent dominance, this volatility benefits fans by creating captivating matchups. Even without a potential headliner like Zheng versus Osaka, the Wimbledon second round featured several compelling encounters, including Osaka vs. Katerina Siniakova, Ashlyn Krueger vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and notably, Emma Raducanu vs. Marketa Vondrousova. Thursday`s schedule also offered intriguing matches:
Clara Tauson vs. Anna Kalinskaya. Kalinskaya sometimes struggles with consistency but has defeated both Pegula and Keys this year. She faced another promising young player in the 22nd-ranked, 22-year-old Tauson, who notably beat Sabalenka in Dubai in February.
Hailey Baptiste vs. Victoria Mboko. The 18-year-old Mboko broke into the top 100 after strong performances at lower-level events and upset the No. 25 seed Magdalena Frech as a lucky loser in the first round. Baptiste, meanwhile, possesses one of the most powerful games on tour, successfully holding serve 60% of the time this year and hitting 38 winners in her first-round victory over veteran Sorana Cirstea.
Looking ahead, the third round could feature matchups like Swiatek facing Danielle Collins and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova taking on Emma Navarro. Potential fourth-round clashes include Paolini versus Anisimova and Swiatek or Collins against Rybakina. Even with several highly-ranked players eliminated early, the draw remains filled with headline-worthy matches for every subsequent round.
Earning a Prime-Time Spot
The quality of the women`s matches is high enough that one fixture, Raducanu versus Vondrousova, was selected for the prime-time headliner slot on Centre Court on Wednesday. This marked the first women`s match to receive this prominent scheduling at the tournament, following a noticeable disparity at the French Open where, despite the strong performance of the top seeds, night sessions on Court Philippe-Chatrier were exclusively reserved for men`s matches for the first 11 nights before the semifinals.
Players like Ons Jabeur have publicly acknowledged these ongoing scheduling disparities. Famed coach Patrick Mouratoglou also weighed in, drawing criticism for comments defending tournament organizers, including those made in a lengthy online post.
He stated, for example, that a night session featuring a single match risks disappointing fans if it concludes too quickly, such as a 6-1, 6-1 victory. He argued this wasn`t a gender issue but related to match duration and format, noting that men play best-of-five sets while women play best-of-three.
While technically true, the length of matches is determined by the Grand Slams themselves through their choice of format. Arguing that men receive headline slots because they play longer matches, when the format mandating those longer matches is set by the tournament, presents somewhat circular reasoning. (It`s also worth noting that five of the 11 men`s headliners in Paris finished in three sets, with four lasting 2 hours and 15 minutes or less).
Regardless of scheduling controversies, the women`s tour is becoming increasingly compelling to follow. Even with the series of stunning upsets in England this week, Wimbledon is shaping up to be a fascinating and unpredictable fortnight.
Marcus Bellamy