The official 2020 L&S Tier list: WTA Edition

Tier 1: The Hall-of-Famers 

Women’s tennis hasn’t been subjected to the complete dominance by a few players. At least, not to the extent that the ATP has. The amount of shakeup in the rankings each year and are filled with more and more young players entering the fold. Only six players in the top-50 are over the age of 30, and 17 of them are under 25. Women’s tennis has gone under a complete youth movement, but there are two players that have redefined the modern age of women’s tennis: Venus and Serena Williams.

When these two sisters came on tour, they immediately had an impact. Serena and Venus have collected an astounding 31 major championships, with Serena winning 23 of them. They’ve dominated the sport as the most recognizable faces both on and off the court. The sisters have collected at least one major singles championship in 15 of the last 20 years, dating back to 2000. In addition, they’ve won at least 2 majors in 12 of those 15 years.

Let’s not forget their doubles prowess, either. 9 of those 20 years have resulted in at least one grand slam. They’ve played in 23 doubles finals and have only lost once; this includes their 14 doubles Grand Slam finals.

There have been some incredibly talented players during their time at the top, like Justin Henin and Jennifer Capriati, both players who had the potential to be all-time greats. They simply didn’t have the firepower to defeat Venus or Serena during their career.

Besides for the Williams sisters, it’s incredibly difficult to put anyone else on this list. Recent retiree Maria Sharapova could be a good entry; she’s been the only player to really break through and win consistently on tour.

She’s won 5 major championships, including a 2004 Wimbledon victory over Serena Williams. However, for the sake of this list and the fact that Sharapova just retired, we’ll keep her off the list.