Ranking the Top Contenders for Label of '2nd-Best Player' in Women's Tennis
Serena Williams has the No. 1 ranking on lockdown and has been the answer to "who's the best women's tennis player?" for a few years now. But who is the second-best player on the tour?
Maria Sharapova is ranked No. 2. But so were Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova earlier this year.
When trying to determine second-best, current ranking is just one factor. You also have to consider points accumulated this season, consistency, performance against top players and how they stack up against the best—in this case, Serena.
Venus Williams is second to Serena in Grand Slams titles won. However, Venus was last in the Top Five in 2011, when she withdrew from the Australian Open with a hip injury. Although she is ranked No. 15 and is one of the most dangerous players on tour, her struggles to reach the later rounds in Grand Slams makes her case for second-best player questionable.
Eugenie Bouchard has an even weaker case. Ranked as high as No. 7, Bouchard reached the semifinals or better at three Grand Slams last year. She's going through a rough patch right now. Even with her recent slump aside, Bouchard fails to register on this list of contenders because of her play against the best. She gets destroyed.
The contenders on this list are among the most consistently solid players. Although they all have losing records against Serena Williams, they continually put themselves in a position to challenge her.
As the saying goes, "If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best." Well, if you want to be second-best, you have to top the rest.
The following ranks the top contenders for second-best player on the tour.
Honorable Mentions
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A trio of former No. 1 players earned honorable mentions. Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki have all reached Grand Slam finals. Ivanovic won the 2008 French Open. Wozniacki has reached the U.S. Open final twice. Jankovic lost to Serena Williams in the 2008 U.S. Open final.
All three remain threats in any tournament. However, they appear to have hit a wall in their quest to reclaim their once upper-tier status.
Wozniacki, 25, the youngest of the three, has time to turn it around. However, it seems she'll be trading in struggles against older big-hitters like the Williams sisters and Sharapova for battles against young heavy-hitters like Madison Keys, Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza.
10. Timea Bacsinszky
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Timea Bacsinszky is ranked No. 14 and is No. 9 in the Road to Singapore, which tracks points accumulated this year. Although she is 0-3 against Serena Williams, none of their matches were blowouts. She pushed Williams to three sets in the semifinals of the French Open.
Bacsinszky's backhand is perhaps her best weapon. She also keeps opponents guessing by mixing in stealth drop shots. Most impressive is her cool and calm on-court demeanor. Bacsinszky, a late bloomer, is 26. What she lacks is experience in big matches.
As she gains experience, Bacsinszky, who has two wins over Petra Kvitova this year, could move up in the contention for second-best player.
9. Carla Suarez Navarro
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Ranked No. 4 in the Road to Singapore rankings, Carla Suarez Navarro is having the best year of her career. The Spaniard reached a career-high No. 8 before losing in the first-round at Wimbledon.
Her one-handed backhand is a rarity on the women's tour. The ATP Tour has a number of successful one-handed backhand players, including Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Richard Gasquet and Grigor Dimitrov. But Suarez Navarro is the only woman in the Top 50 who uses it. This makes it a reliable weapon on a tour where players rarely see that shot.
Suarez Navarro has about as complete of an all-court game as you'll see in the WTA. However, her 5'4" stature and predictable second serve negates any claim to second-best player.
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8. Agnieszka Radwanska
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Agnieszka Radwanska was ranked as high as No. 2 in 2012.
She began her 2015 season with great expectations after hiring 18-time Slam winner Martina Navratilova as coach. But a dismal start saw Radwanska fall out of the Top 10. She then split with Navratilova, and her season looked doomed.
Instead, she regrouped and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Radwanska's speed and quickness are underrated and overlooked. What she lacks in power, she makes up for in shot selection. A craftier counter-puncher than Wozniacki, Radwanska does more than merely put the ball back in play. She outmaneuvers her opponents. That's why, despite her rocky start this year, she comes in at No. 8 here.
7. Venus Williams
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Venus Williams is ranked No. 15 and hasn't won a Grand Slam title since 2008. Still, she lands at No. 7 because she remains among the best players on the tour.
With five Wimbledon titles, her best surface is grass. She's had the misfortune of drawing her sister at Wimbledon this year and 2014 winner Kvitova in the third round last year.
Venus Williams is second only to Serena in Grand Slams won and third, behind Sharapova, in career prize money.
Her first serve is still among the fastest, and she's a wiz at the net. Her run to the final at the Rogers Cup last year, which included a defeat of younger sister, proves she can still beat the best.
But her age, 35, keeps her from doing it consistently. Of active players, Venus Williams has had the second-best career. However, she's not the second-best player right now.
6. Lucie Safarova
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Lucie Safarova is athletic, aggressive and a shot maker. She's having a breakout year, having reached the French Open final and a career-high No. 6 ranking.
Safarova has the type of game that can beat anybody. Yet her nerves sometimes get the better of her. Already 28, she's probably never going to reach No. 1.
There's nothing from her past U.S. Open performances that indicates she'll have a solid run there. Then again, there was nothing from her French Open history that indicated she'd make it to the final this year. What's changed is Safarova's outlook. She's playing with more confidence.
She's always had the talent, now she has the proper mindset.
5. Simona Halep
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A few months ago, Simona Halep was considered the No. 1 contender to Serena Williams. She had just won Indian Wells and played an intense three-setter against Williams in Miami, perhaps the best match on the tour this year.
She went into the clay-court season ranked No. 2, then an early exit at the French Open and first-round loss at Wimbledon sent her back to No. 3. Halep split with her coach just prior to Wimbledon, and she's gone through a number of coaches already this year.
It's too early to tell if Halep is going through a funk or spiraling out of control. However, it is clear she's not the second-best player on tour. If she doesn't alter the trajectory of her career soon, she may even experience a Bouchard-esque descent.
4. Garbine Muguruza
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Muguruza reached her first Slam final at Wimbledon. However, she's been on a steady climb to the top.
Steady, is a good word to describe Muguruza. Unlike Halep and Suarez Navarro, Muguruza, 21, has the size and power needed to dominate the tour. Part of one of the top doubles teams, Muguruza also has touch and variety in her game.
Many will remember the way she came out ready in the Wimbledon final. Perhaps a better performance was in a loss against Williams at the Australian Open. She showed she can match Williams in power, but Muguruza needs experience. That comes with age, and in the post-Serena era, Muguruza could be the best player on tour. Right now, she's the fifth best and No. 4 when it comes to second-best.
3. Petra Kvitova
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Kvitova has two Wimbledon titles is the only player to defeat Serena Williams this year. She's ranked No. 4, but comes in No. 3 on this list because of her championship accomplishments.
Kvitova, except for her win at Madrid, has had an underwhelming year. Her weapons, the big lefty serve and massive forehand, give her an edge over players like Radwanska, who lack point-ending power. Kvitova is just too inconsistent for someone with her talent and arsenal.
When she's on, as she was in Madrid against Williams and against Bouchard at Wimbledon in 2014, she's unstoppable. You just never know when that is.
2. Victoria Azarenka
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Two years ago, Victoria Azarenka was challenging Serena Williams for the No. 1 ranking. She defeated Williams in Qatar (2013), won the Australian Open twice and reached the final at the U.S. Open in 2012 and 2013.
After a couple of injuries, Azarenka missed a few months in 2014. She fell in the rankings and has had to fight her way back to the Top 20.
The reason Azarenka leapfrogged others with higher rankings and more recent success is that the player, the two-time Slam champion, is still there. She is only 26, the age many players hit their stride.
Azarenka is just working her way back into form. She won't always get tough draws, like Serena Williams in the third round at the French Open and the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Despite her ranking, Azarenka, when healthy, could be the second-best player on tour.
1. Maria Sharapova
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Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova's decade-long losing streak and 2-18 record against Serena Williams often overshadows how consistent the Russian has been at the top.
Although her legacy will be forever clouded by her lopsided rivalry with Williams, the reason Sharapova can lay claim to second-best player on tour is that she's owned that spot more than anyone.
She is also ranked No. 2 in the Road to Singapore. More importantly, she's outperformed the rest.
Sharapova has a 8-7 record against Azarenka, 6-3 against Kvitova and 4-2 against Safarova. She's 12-2 against Radwanska, and she's undefeated against Halep (5-0) and Muguruza (3-0). She even has a 5-3 record against Venus Williams. In fact, Sharapova has a winning record against every woman on this list, including the honorable mentions.
She's been almost as dominant over "the rest" as she's been dominated by the best. This makes Sharapova the second-best player on the WTA Tour.
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