The 2021 women\u2019s tennis season is winding down, with the WTA Finals occurring in Guadalajara, Mexico. Among the players who really surprised us over the past year, here are the four who stand out the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emma Raducanu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 18-year-old pulled off something which had never previously been done in professional tennis. Since the dawn of the Open Era in 1968, not one major champion \u2013 in 53 years of major-tournament competition \u2013 had come out of the (three-match) qualifying round to win a championship. Raducanu became the first person, man or woman, to do that at the U.S. Open in September. Her run to the championship in New York was a 10-match joyride: three wins in quallies followed by seven wins in the main draw of the 128-player event. She made history, and moreover, she did so without losing a set. 20 sets played, 20 sets won, in 10 matches. Raducanu was phenomenal to begin with. Beyond that, she had only three previous main tour events under her belt: Nottingham, Wimbledon, and San Jose. She barely had any experience on the regular WTA Tour, and yet she was able to win 10 matches in three weeks and lift a major trophy at 18. Players such as Karolina Pliskova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who have played for over a decade on tour and have been consistent top-30 if not top-15 players, have never won a major. Raducanu\u2019s achievement will be discussed for a very long time in the history of women\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leylah Fernandez<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The player who met Raducanu in the 2021 U.S. Open final is also an out-of-nowhere success story. Fernandez certainly had potential, but she had not yet unleashed it to a meaningful extent. She had not made deep runs at major tournaments and showed no signs heading into New York that she was ready to be a factor at the very top tier of women\u2019s tennis. Yet, she beat Naomi Osaka to knock out the defending champion at the event. She then beat three-time major champion Angelique Kerber and top-10 stalwart Elina Svitolina. She then figured out top-three-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals. She beat the best of the best to get here, as opposed to playing a bunch of lower-ranked players due to a wide-open draw. She went through the toughest path and reached a major final at age 19. Her future is extremely bright, and her career is well ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barbora Krejcikova<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The veteran\u2019s run to the Roland Garros championship in June was completely unexpected. Krejcikova has been a world-class doubles player for several years, but her singles resume was barren, with very few main-draw appearances in majors under her belt. Her focus on doubles has made her a very rich woman, but her singles prowess was not something anyone was discussing at the start of 2021. At the end of the year, Krejcikova \u2013 who won 27 of 30 matches at one point this past season \u2013 is a new threat at the top of the women\u2019s game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paula Badosa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Spaniard made the quarterfinals at Roland Garros and then built on that tournament by winning Indian Wells. She won the first two matches at the WTA Finals, giving her a near-certain berth in the semifinals. If she wins the year-end championship, she will be one of the foremost points of focus at the 2022 Australian Open in January. Her stock is soaring as a tennis player.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 2021 women\u2019s tennis season is winding down, with the WTA Finals occurring in Guadalajara, Mexico. 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