Ranking top ten players who haven’t won a major: Pegula among honorable mentions
By Andrew Stutz
The WTA tour is deeper and more competitive than it has ever been. At any given major, there appear to be more than two dozen players with a legitimate chance at the title. That includes world number 3, Jessica Pegula.
As such, narrowing down this top ten countdown has been extremely tough. There is so much talent in the women’s game that not having some of them ranked in the top ten players not to win a major seems unfair. And being unfair was not the point of this exercise.
I have previously gone through ranking the top ten WTA not to win a Grand Slam (you can see the list below). Still, as so many good players may have not been mentioned, here is a list of honorable mentions who just missed the cut.
Honorable mentions of the top ten WTA players not to win a major, starting with Jessica Pegula
Pegula
Pegula has been an extremely consistent presence on tour for the last few years. Since 2021, she has made it to the quarterfinals or better at 11 WTA 1000 events. Her consistency brought her to a career-high of number 3 in singles and number 2 in doubles. Pegula has won a WTA 1000 event and advanced to 6 singles quarterfinals in the majors. However, she is yet to reach a semifinal at that stage.
Eugenie Bouchard
2014 was a dream year for Bouchard. She reached the semifinals of the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Li), the semifinals of the French Open (l. to eventual champion Sharapova), and the finals of Wimbledon (l. to Kvitova). She made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open the following year but has not played in a grand slam main draw since 2020.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
While she has not soared to the heights of some of the Russian greats that came before her, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova successfully transitioned from a glistening junior career to a wonderful pro one. In 2021, Pavlyuchenkova narrowly lost in the French Open final. In addition, she has reached 7 additional quarterfinals at the majors. Her mixed doubles gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics will likely be the brightest spot of her great career.
Sara Errani
Statistics alone, Errani should have made the top 10 list. She reached a French Open final and made an additional 2 semifinal appearances at the majors. Not to mention, she and Roberta Vinci were one of the most successful doubles pairings of all time. However, Errani’s past doping ban makes me at least doubt the legitimacy of her results and prevents me from adding her to the top 10.
Danielle Collins
Sometimes polarizing because of her on-court demeanor, Danielle Collins has shown how to transition from being a college player to a pro one. Collins, who absolutely thumps the ball, made the finals of last year’s Australian Open. Her high-risk game style may be inconsistent, but when it is on, she can beat anyone on tour.
Karolina Muchova
This June, Muchova almost did the unthinkable and beat Iga Swiatek in the French Open final. Muchova also defeated Ash Baty en route to the semifinals of the 2021 Australian Open. Her career progression has been hampered by injuries, but if she is healthy, expect her to make more deep runs at the majors.
Coco Vandeweghe
Coco Vandeweghe’s high-octane game was on in 2017. She narrowly lost to Venus Williams in the semifinals of the Australian Open and followed that up with a quarterfinal run at Wimbledon and a semifinal appearance at the US Open. Injuries and a loss of form have since derailed her singles career.
Top 10 countdown so far:
Number 10 – Paula Badosa
Number 9 – Maria Sakkari
Number 8 – Coco Gauff
Number 7 – Belinda Bencic
Number 6 – Madison Keys
Number 5 – Caroline Garcia
Number 4 – Elina Svitolina
Number 3 – Vera Zvonareva
Number 2 – Ons Jabeur
Number 1 – Karolina Pliskova