Australian Open 2012: Power Ranking the 5 Biggest Fan Bases on Women's Draw

When the WTA's ladies head to Australia for this season's first Grand Slam, Petra Kvitova and six other players will have the opportunity to steal the top overall ranking from Caroline Wozniacki, as the Washington Post reported.

But which player will the majority of tennis fans be rooting for?

I didn't take a poll, but if I did, I would guess the five following players would have the most support at the Australian Open.

5. Caroline Wozniacki

The world's top-ranked player has quite a following, with 371,574 likes on her Facebook page and 260,357 followers on Twitter.

And that's just her social-media savvy fans. There will be quite a few fans hoping the incumbent can maintain her ranking at the Australian Open.

4. Petra Kvitova

Kvitova had an epic 2011, although for the purposes of this article the most relevant accomplishment was winning the WTA award for Breakthrough Player of the Year, which was voted on by the fans.

Anytime the fans vote you in for an award, you know you've developed a large fan base. Look for 2011's best player to extend her fan base in 2012.

3. Agnieszka Radwanska

This one is pretty simple—Radwanska was voted by the fans as their favorite singles player in 2011.

The eighth-ranked player in the world will have a rather large following hoping she can earn her first ever Grand Slam title in Australia.

2. Serena Williams

As of August, Serena Williams was the WTA's most popular player on Twitter and currently has 2.4 million followers.

But is Serena Williams popular with tennis fans or just really famous?

I say both. She's one of the sport's most iconic figures, after all.

1. Maria Sharapova

Sharapova has 6,113,413 likes on her Facebook page.

That's a lot of likes.

Sharapova may be known by some as much for her beauty as her game, but that's no knock on what she is capable of on the court. She's currently ranked fourth in the world and one of her three career Grand Slam titles came in Australia in 2008.

Hit me up on the Twitter—my tweets are FDA approved.