Ten years later: What are the top 10 women doing in 2010?
What are the ten best junior players doing in 2010 - have they made the breakthrough? We looked around.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Dec 26, 2020, 05:46 pm
# 10: An-Sophie Mestach
At the end of 2010, the Belgian was 10th in the U18 world rankings, at the age of 16. In doubles she reached the final of the US Open in 2010, at the Australian Open 2011 she won the singles and doubles title (in 2011 she even finished third in the junior ranking, in the meantime she was even first).
Mestach, now 26, has now ended her career. In 2015 she made it to 98th place in the WTA ranking, but not enough for a single title on the tour. Her only main field appearance at a Grand Slam tournament: 2015 at the Australian Open, where she lost in the first round. It went better in doubles: Mestach won two titles here and climbed to 64th place in the world.
# 9: Saisai Zheng
The Chinsin is still in full swing. In 2019 she celebrated her first (and so far only) WTA title in San Jose, on March 2, 2020, she reached 34th place in the individual, her highest world ranking so far. In doubles, she was already in 15th place in 2016. Here she won four titles, at the French Open 2013 she was even in the final, with Duan Yingying she lost to the top seeded Kristina Mladenovic / Timea Babos.
She is currently listed at 41st in singles and 28th in doubles.
# 8: Karolina Pliskova
By far the most successful player from the year-end top 10! Pliskova won the individual junior title at the Australian Open in 2010 - and then started on the WTA tour. She won her first title in Malaysia in 2013, cracked the Top 10 in 2015, and in 2016 she reached her only Grand Slam final at the US Open, which she lost to Angelique Kerber in three contested sets. In 2017 it finally became number 1 in the world.
Pliskova has collected 16 WTA titles so far and is currently in 6th place.
# 7: Timea Babos
The Hungarian is especially great in doubles! She has won four Grand Slam titles here, all alongside Kristina Mladenovic (former junior number 1 in 2009).
Babos has won a total of 24 double titles so far, and in 2018 she was number 1 in the double world. But Babos is also not bad in the individual: At the moment she is "only" 115, four years ago she was number 25 and has won three titles.
That it could be a great double career in particular had already been announced when she was a junior: Babos won the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in 2010, all with Sloane Stephens. At the Australian Open she was in the final.
# 6: Kristyna Pliskova
Karolina Pliskova's twin sister, who is two minutes older, is still waiting for her big break. Pliskova won the Wimbledon junior women's tournament in 2010, on the regular tour one tournament victory in Tashkent 2016 is in the statistics so far, in doubles there have been five so far. At the Grand Slam tournaments, however, Pliskova did not go any further in singles or doubles than in round 3.
Kristyna Pliskova, in contrast to Karolina left-hander, was 35th in the individual world in 2017, currently she is number 69. And is at least as powerful as her sister: She holds the record for the most aces in a match, set by the Australian Open 2016 against Monica Puig.
# 5: Irina Khromacheva
Khromacheva was only 15 years old at the end of 2010 and had meanwhile already been number one in the world. In 2011 she ended the year at the top after she had celebrated her greatest success in the majors by reaching the Wimbledon final (loss to Ashleigh Barty).
On the regular tour it was not enough to get to the top: 89th place was the best in 2017, Khromacheva is currently only 638th. It went better in doubles, she won a title here and climbed to 41st.
# 4: Monica Puig
Puig reached two Grand Slam finals among the juniors, both in 2011 (Australian Open, French Open). And only five years later she was crowned gold medalist in Rio, where she ran a dream run and demystified Garbine Muguruza, Laura Siegemund, Petra Kvitova and, in the final, Angelique Kerber with uncompromising power tennis.
In 2016, she also achieved her best world ranking with number 27 - but since then she has been fighting to get back into such spheres, also due to injury. Puig is currently only placed 105th in the WTA ranking and only played three tournaments in 2020, where she lost at the beginning.
# 3: Lauren Davis
Davis won the 2010 Eddie Herr junior tournament and the Orange Bowl. On the WTA tour, the only 1.57 meter tall American made it to 26th place (in May 2017), a tournament victory was possible so far (Auckland 2017).
Davis is known for her agility and speed, including her strong backhand. And: a legendary third-round match at the Australian Open 2018, where she lost to Simona Halep in the third set in just under four hours with 1:15 p.m. German tennis fans will remember her as a Kerber conqueror: in 2019, she beat the Wimbledon defending champion completely surprisingly in round 2.
# 2: Elina Svitolina
The currently highest placed player among the 2010 juniors! And next to Karolina Pliskova the most successful. Svitolina won the 2010 French Open junior competition (in 2012 she reached the Wimbledon final, where she lost to Genie Bouchard). Her rise was rapid: in 2013 she won her first WTA title, in 2016 she cracked the top 10 in the world, and in 2018 she won the WTA Tour Finals. In total, she has won 15 WTA titles so far.
Only in the majors it was bad for a long time, only in 2019 did Svitolina reach the semifinals at Wimbledon and at the US Open for the first time. Her best placement so far: 3rd place.
# 1: Daria Gavrilova
"Dasha" won the US Junior Open and the Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2010 - back then for Russia. She has competed for Australia since 2015. The fun-loving Gavrilova plays a varied tennis, in 2017 she was ranked 20th in the world after her tournament victory in New Haven. Injuries followed, which she did not heal properly for a long time.
At the end of 2019, after the US Open, she ended her year in order to recover mentally and to find the joy of tennis again . "I don't know when I'll play the next tournament," wrote Gavrilova at the time - and the surprise was great when she was back on the pitch at the French Open in late summer 2020 after just one ITF tournament. And won her opening game against Dayana Yastremska straight away.