The Top 5 most accomplished women going for their first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open
Of the 117 women in the draw who haven’t won a major, who are the players with the most jam-packed career resumes?
“Who’s the best player yet to win a major?” is a question that comes up often, especially when there’s a Grand Slam around the corner.
We can’t objectively say who’s the “best” player yet to win one, but by looking at previous Slam results, rankings and successes at other WTA events, we’ve come up with our Top 5 most accomplished women going for their first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open this year.
In no particular order…
Aryna Sabalenka
The Belarusian may not have been to a major final yet, but she’s been to three semifinals—all in the last five majors she’s played—and pushed all of those matches to 6-4 in the third set. She’s won four WTA 1000s, spent six months at No. 2, and just a few months ago at the WTA Finals joined Steffi Graf and the Williams sisters as one of only four women ever to beat No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 at the same event.
Caroline Garcia
Like Sabalenka, Garcia hasn’t been to a major final yet—her best result is a semifinal, at last year’s US Open. But she’s checked off every other box. Having already captured three WTA 1000s, she won the biggest title of her career at the WTA Finals last fall, defeating Sabalenka in the final. She’s currently at a career-high ranking of No. 4 with barely any points to defend until June, so watch out, Top 3…
Madison Keys
The American is the only player on this list who hasn’t been ranked in the Top 5 (her career-high is No. 7) but she has one of the best Grand Slam resumes of the group—not only did she reach the final of the 2017 US Open, but she’s been to another four major semifinals, including two in Australia in 2015 and just last year (falling to Ashleigh Barty). She also has a WTA 1000 title, at Cincinnati in 2019.
Ons Jabeur
Over the last year, the Tunisian has not only reached her first two major finals at Wimbledon and the US Open, but she also won the biggest title of her career in Madrid (a WTA 1000). She reached No. 2 for the first time during Wimbledon, and she’s been there every week since the US Open. She missed the Australian Open last year with a back injury, so she’s playing with house money this year.
Karolina Pliskova
Arguably the most accomplished women’s player out there yet to win a major, the Czech is a former No. 1, spending eight weeks at the top spot in 2017—she’s also been to two major finals, barely losing both of them in three sets, to Angelique Kerber at the 2016 US Open and to Barty at Wimbledon in 2021. The WTA’s ace queen has also won two WTA 1000s (2016 Cincinnati and 2019 Rome) and nine WTA 500s.
Honorable Mentions!
A pair of former No. 4s could easily be in this Top 5, too: Belinda Bencic, who reached the semifinals of the 2019 US Open, won the gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and is a two-time champion at the WTA 1000 level; and Coco Gauff, who at 18 has already reached her first major final—at Roland Garros last year—and who already has three WTA titles to her name, including one in Auckland just last week.
And shout-out to Elina Svitolina, who would most definitely be on this list if she were playing in Melbourne this year (she’s currently on maternity leave, having given birth to her first child in October).