Twenty 2020 Questions: Who’s the next first-time major winner?

We're answering the 10 biggest questions on the WTA and ATP tours in 2020. The entire list will be rolled out here.

Karolina Pliskova is good at winning tune-up events, but not the Slams themselves. Elina Svitolina made the semis at two majors for the first time last year, but quickly exited both times. Keys can be unbeatable for stretches, but they never last two weeks. Kiki Bertens, after making rapid progress in 2017 and 2018, seems to have hit a ceiling.

Getty Images

Which leads us back to another woman recently touted as the future of the WTA: Aryna Sabalenka. With power and precision, the long-limbed Belarusian rocketed into the Top 10 two years ago, only to suffer a sophomore slump in 2019, in and out of the majors. The good news? In October, the 21-year-old righted herself with a title in Wuhan, where she beat two Top-10 foes and reminded us just how sky-high her upside remains.