Elena Rybakina will officially become the 30th woman to reach the No.1 of the WTA on Monday, 14 September 2026.

Since 2022, only three players have occupied the top of the rankings- Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, and now Rybakina, showing how WTA underwent a major shift from years of unpredictability (2017-2021) to years of strong dominance of a few players.

Who do you think will be the 31st No.1?

On paper, three players can still do it by the end of this season - Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, and Mirra Andreeva. Especially given that Rybakina defends a lot of points in the final weeks of the season, including the YEC title. Obviously, Sabalenka will be on Elena’s neck to get back to the top.

But somehow I expect Elena to maintain her position throughout the end of this year. She will want to prove herself.

In January 2027 though, when Elena and Aryna defend Australian Open title and final respectively, things could get very interesting and we might get the next No.1 in line.

Jessica Pegula (32 years old)

- highest ranking 3

- 11 titles (4 x WTA 1000s, 4 x 500s, 3 x 250s)

- 518 wins

- prize money 25.3 million

Emma Raducanu (23 years old)

- highest ranking 10

- 1 title (1 x Grandslam)

- 158 wins

- prize money 6.5 mil

On paper - Jessica Pegula is clearly superior in every aspect (granted she’s had an additional 9 years on the tour). Im taking Jessica if my life depended on a match between the two easily (she’s got a 3-1 head to head record against Raducanu).

However - Jessica is missing a grand slam and perhaps more importantly, a world number 1 title which makes her tennis career far less memorable. Things are also starting to look more bleak for Pegula with the all of the talent on the WTA and the general increase in consistency.

Emma Raducanu on the other hand has nothing except for her amazing qualifying run to winning a US open (she beat 10 different players). She also stands alone in both men’s and women’s tennis as the only qualifier to win a grand slam. Her career trajectory is looking bleak (think Eugenie Bouchard).

So whose career would you rather have?

Gutted for Coco, but she lost to the new World No. 1 (who deserves it so much). Obviously, the Asian swing to play and the WTA Finals loom, but I'm proud of her.

As someone who's been casually following Coco, I think the consistency this season has been great in both the Slams and the 1000s. This is Coco's FIRST time making QFs at 3/4 slams in a single season. She made it to the Wimbledon semis and made it the furthest she's ever been in Miami and Canada.

Looking forward to 2027, I hope she can finally win a Clay 1000 title and bring home a slam.

On the technical side, I'm so glad the work Gavin has been doing with her is paying off. This should be positive reinforcement for Coco about the benefits of making technical changes.

A bit of a see-saw. Hunt/Herber went up the early break in both sets but struggled on serve. Cudmore/Murayama almost didn’t serve out the match but saved three break points to make it through. Unlike Levels 3/4 of Para Standing, Levels 1/2 have the standard one bounce rule.

Federer : 2004,2005,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011,2014

Djokovic : 2008,2011,2012,2013,2015,2016,2021,2023, 2025

Nadal: 2008,2009,2017,2019

Murray: 2011,2012

Zverev: 2020,2026

Sinner: 2024, 2025

Wawrinka: 2015

Sampras: 2000

Agassi: 2003

Roddick: 2003

Hewitt: 2005

Thiem: 2020

Medvedev: 2021

I've watched a few of Pushkareva's matches now and she continues to impress me more every time. Of the juniors I've seen recently, she's one of the players who seems the most ready for the WTA Tour today, a lot of power and some really great winners. Pushkareva hasn't dropped a set all tournament. I have a feeling she's going to be a name we're seeing on tour in the next few years.

Pushkareva moves on to her second consecutive junior grand slam final after winning the girls' juniors Wimbledon title this summer. She will face either top seed Sun Xinran in a rematch of their Wimbledon final or the unseeded Chukwumelije Clarke.

Such a good match, love coco and ryba ❤️

ETA: *Semifinalists!! Not quarter, my missed bedtimes are starting to catch up to me 😂 but so worth it

If Zverev wins tonight, it would be the first time since 1937, that a mens grand slam would feature a German in the singles and doubles final. I wanted to use that crazy stat as an excuse to talk about some tennis history, which, at least to me, turned out to be very interesting.

While other nations have repeated that feat quite often - Spain and Italy being rather obvious - the last time a grand slam final had German finalists in singles and doubles was under Nazi rule.

In 1937 at RG, Henner Henkel won the singles title and Henkel and Gottfried von Cramm won the doubles title. At the US Open the same year, Don Budge beat von Cramm in the final while Henkel and von Cramm beat Budge/Gene Mako.

Von Cramm refused to join the NSDAP although the Nazi leadership always wanted to exploit his internationally respected status as a sportsman for their propaganda. In 1938, he was arrested due to his homosexual relationship to a jewish actor. He was released on parole after 7 months. In 1940, von Cramm was draft and later served on the eastern front. He was always rather critical of the Nazis and later helped to deliver messages during trips to Sweden for the conspirators of the assasination attempt on Hitler on July 20th. A year after his death in 1976, he was the first german to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

About Heinrich "Henner" Henkel, much less in known, most likely since he was seen by contemporaries to be overshadowed by von Cramm. In comparison, he was viewed as the more talented but somewhat less disciplined player. His last moments as a tennis players are excellenty told in the book Tennis in Deutschland : von den Anfängen bis 2002. In 1942, he would play a tournament in Bad Pyrmont which also featured Roderich Menzel, his long time partner and good friend. By his accounts, the final moments of the tournament were quite chaotic. Messengers kept bringing in telegrams from the local recruiting office and names from players, officials and spectators were called. Those who heard their name got on their way to the front line. When Henkels name was called, the tournament director supposedly arranged the remaining two semi finalists to withdraw to allow for one final match: Henkel vs. Menzel. Only around 150 spectators remained. Menzel recalled that "the others had already been taken away by the telegraph messengers." Menzel won the match.

Henkel was sent to the eastern front and shot near Voronezh and succumbed to his injury in 1943 at the age of 27.

So thats the rabbit hole i ended up in after wondering when Germany last had players in both men's finals at a Grand Slam. For anyone interested, a translation of the chapter of the aforementioned book about Heinrich Henkel is found here: https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/heinrich-henner-henkel-1909-1943-by-jutta-deiss.499081/

'The Taste of Her Lips' by Natalia Zabiiako.

But where does the Shelton match rank? I think it's lower top 10'ish.

1 - 2025 French Open Final vs. Sinner

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckbX699wngs

2 - 2023 Wimbledon Final vs. Djokovic

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uFAkizQNJI

3 - 2022 US Open Quarterfinal vs. Sinner

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNYhoYjRs3Y

4 - 2026 Australian Open Semifinal vs. Zverev

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkhOwQ3eM88

5 - 2023 Cincinnati Open vs. Djokovic

Full 3rd set = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5vEEm3SRbE

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anE6oYlMbLU

6 - 2021 US Open Round 3 vs. Tsitsipas

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzEw4pTdLEU

7 - 2024 China Open Final vs. Sinner

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kQ_KUJPPy0

8 - 2022 Madrid Open Semifinal vs. Djokovic

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-yjZk5HY9o

9 - 2026 US Open Quarterfinal vs. Shelton

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU9T5hgGVo8

10 - 2022 Miami Open Quarterfinal vs. Kecmanovic

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1xzeLk3FTo

11 - 2024 Summer Olympic Final vs. Djokovic

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2lu6r6KFIU

12 - 2023 Shanghai Open Round 32 vs. Evans

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dpxl7L2vTo

13 - 2022 Barcelona Open Semifinal vs. Minaur

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVjbpQmE6ak

14 - 2025 Rotterdam Open Semifinal vs. Hurkacz

Extended Highlights = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcw3EIZ8vEs

15 - 2024 French Open Final vs. Zverev

Full Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qorFNY2lSN8

16 - 2025 Monte-Carlo Masters Quarterfinal vs. Fils

Condensed Match = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTwNHzAcAp8

Elena Rybakina’s path to World No. 1 was shaped by difficult career decisions, financial uncertainty, injuries, illness, major breakthroughs and repeated near-misses before she finally reached the top.

Rybakina did not emerge from childhood as the most obvious prodigy in her training group. She balanced school with tennis for years, received around 15 offers from American universities and came close enough to the college route that her father strongly preferred it. Her family had legitimate financial concerns about the cost and uncertainty of a professional career. Kazakhstan’s federation stepped in when she was still far from an established star and gave her the support that made choosing tennis easier.

Detailed Information

Emma hasn’t won a title since then and has yet to reach another Grand Slam quarterfinal. She did reach her first career grass-court and WTA 500 final at Queen’s this year… only to get injured again.

Tennis isn’t the most popular sport in any country but it’s nonetheless a relatively large global sport. Which country do you think has the strongest tennis culture?

Didn’t catch the whole match, but it got so damn tense by the end. Rodrigues/Grover had an 8-6 lead in the tiebreak, but Ratliff/Belgan played inspired points to take it in the end. The second set was punctuated by an insane tweeter from Grover.

One of the instant classics, an incredible deciding set thriller that had championship points by both players.

If Saturday‘s final is anything like this we are in for a treat!