[Hanan Ubis]

My Ranking!

Criteria: Should have been ranked at least top 5 or made the finals of a GS

Safina (3 Finals, #1)
Halep (3 Finals, #1)
Jaeger (2 Final, #2)
Jankovic (1 Final, #1)
Pliskova (1 Final, #1)
Sukova (4 Finals, #4)
Fernandez (3 Finals, #4)
Turnbull (3 Finals, #3)
Casals (2 Finals, 5 SF, #3)
Zvonareva (2 Finals, 2 SF, #2)
Dementieva (2 Finals, 3 SF, #3)
Radwanska (1 Final, 2 SF, 1 YEC, #2)
Shriver (1 Final, 6 SF, #3)
Garrison (1 Final, 3 SF, #4)
Fromholtz Balestrat (1 Final, 3 SF, #4)
Morozova (2 Final, 0 SF, 3 QF, #7)
Gourlay (2 Finals, 0 SF, 1 QF, #12)
Cibulkova (1 Final, 1 SF, 3 QF, 1 YEC, #4)
Hanika (1 Final, 0 SF, 5 QF, 1 YEC, #5)
Huber (1 Final, 1 SF, 2 QF, #4)
Tauziat (1 Final, 0 SF, 2 QF, #3)
Zvereva (1 Final, 1 SF, 2 QF, #5)
Safarova (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #5)
Keys (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #7)
Jordan (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #5)
Bouchard (1 Final, 2 SF, 0 QF, #5)
Niessen Masthoff (1 Final, 1 SF, 3 QF, #6)
Tegart-Dalton (1 Final, 1 SF, 2 QF, #7)
Errani (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #5)
Stove (1 Final, 1 SF, 0 QF, #5)
Tomanova (2 Final, 0 SF/QF, #22)
Manuela Maleeva (0 Final, 2 SF, 8 QF, #3)
Coetzer (0 Final, 3 SF, 3 QF, #3)
Petrova (0 Final, 2 SF, 6 QF, #3)
Kohde Kilsch (0 Final, 4 SF, 3 QF, #4)
Date (0 Final, 3 SF, 2 QF, #4)
Vinci (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #7)
Durie (0 Final, 2 SF, 2 QF, #5)
Lisicki (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #12)
Walsh (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #22)
Nagelsen (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #23)
Mihai (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #29)
Konta (0 Final, 2 SF, 0 QF, #4)
Svitolina (0 F/SF, 3 QF, #3)
Magdalena Maleeva (0 F/SF, 1 QF, #4)
Hantuchova (0 Final, 1 SF, 3 QF, #5)
Chakvetadze (0 Final, 1 SF, 2 QF, #5)

*bolding active players

disclaimer: I haven't seen a handful of these people play, just basing it off their records and what other people have said

 

[goldenlox]

Really tough to rank these.
Safina, Halep, Jankovic, Dementieva, Radwanska, Zvonareva
I expect Halep to win at least 1

 

[Hugues]

1. Halep (3 Finals, #1)
2. Radwanska (1 Final, 2 SF, 1 YEC, #2)
3. Pliskova (1 Final, #1)
4. Safina (3 Finals, #1)
5. Jankovic (1 Final, #1)
6. Jaeger (2 Final, #2)
7. Zvonareva (2 Finals, 2 SF, #2)
8. Svitolina (0 F/SF, 3 QF, #3)
9. Shriver (1 Final, 6 SF, #3)
10. Casals (2 Finals, 5 SF, #3)
11. Dementieva (2 Finals, 3 SF, #3)
12. Turnbull (3 Finals, #3)
13. Cibulkova (1 Final, 1 SF, 3 QF, 1 YEC, #4)
14. Sukova (4 Finals, #4)
14. Fernandez (3 Finals, #4)
15. Garrison (1 Final, 3 SF, #4)
16. Tauziat (1 Final, 0 SF, 2 QF, #3)
17. Safarova (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #5)
18. Keys (1 Final, 1 SF, 1 QF, #7)
19. Lisicki (1 Final, 0 SF/QF, #12)

I'm sure Halep, Pliskova, Svitolina and Keys won't stay slamless. I hope with all my heart that Radwanska wins one, and I believe she can come back to her best. I don't see Lisicki coming back to her best, but would be delighted to see her do so.

I don't see Jankovic, Zvonareva or Cibulkova coming back to their best. I can see Safarova winning a slam in a Flavia Pennetta way, playing her best for two weeks.

Andrea Jaeger could have been with the best players of her era (Austin and Mandlikova to the least) but had personal troubles.

Style wise, my favorites among the active players are Lisicki, Radwanska, Keys, Halep, Jankovic, Safarova.

My favorites among the slamless past players of the open era were Tauziat, Turnbull, Jaeger, Casals.

Nobody should limit stats to the open era, on a side note. I'm sorry, womens tennis wasn't suddenly more relevant since 1968. It's silly to draw the line there all the time. Don't put that notion of "open" relevancy in people's minds, it's an enormous mistake. I say that to anyone.

 

[Matt-TennisFan24]

This is difficult. Let's see.

Toe to toe at the top of the list, I'd rate Halep and Dementieva. Both have had consistent careers, but in spite of Elena's gold and numerous GS SFs, I'd say Halep edges her by a hair given she doubles her PM/P5 titles, reached #1 and has an additional GS F and YEC F:
1- Halep (3 GS F, YEC F, 2 additional GS SFs, 6 PM/P5s, 4 years ranked in top five/ten, YE#1, 16 titles)
2- Dementieva (2 GS F, OG and OS, 7 additional GS SFs, 3 PM/P5s, 7 years in top ten, 2 years in top five -never had a top three finish-, 16 titles)
Of course, it's up for debating.

Close to them come, in the following order:
3- Safina (3 GS F, 2 additional GS SFs, Olympic Silver, 5 PM/P5s, 2 years in top three, 12 titles)
4- Jankovic (1 GS F, 5 additional GS SFs, 6 PM/P5s, 5 years in top ten and 2 in top three, YE#1, 15 titles)
5- Radwanska (1 GS F, 4 additional GS SFs, YEC W, 5 PM/P5s, 8 years in top ten, three in top five and one in top three, 20 titles)

This is another close call, I'd say Safina needs to be ahead given she reached two more GS finals than these two, plus an Olympic silver, and she had as many top three YE rankings as Jankovic in spite of having a shorter career. Only difference is she didn't reach that many SFs and came up short in title count by a small margin. Doesn't justify putting her below Jelena though.

Aga and JJ is way close, they had similar careers except for Jelena reaching #1 and Aga winning the YEC. I guess #1 means more, so I think she is slightly above Agnieszka.

Far from the rest I'd put Bepa (who had a relatively short career as a top player and didn't win much during that period especially in terms of PM/P5s) and Pliskova, who's lacking in every department so far although she has time to make up for it since she's quite young:
6- Zvonareva (2 GS F, 2 additional GS SFs, YEC F, 1 PM/P5, 4 years in top ten, only one in top three, 12 titles)
7- Pliskova (1 GS F, 1 GS SF, 1 PM/P5, 2 years in top ten, 9 titles)


I'll try to consider the older players later, that requires some thinking as it's difficult to rate WTA titles before the Tier Is.

 

[Ninjician]

Radwanska 4 SF not 2

 

[Hanan Ubis]

Radwanska 4 SF not 2

I only considered the final round they were in for counting.... otherwise.... it should be 3?

 

[Hanan Ubis]

Nobody should limit stats to the open era, on a side note. I'm sorry, womens tennis wasn't suddenly more relevant since 1968. It's silly to draw the line there all the time. Don't put that notion of "open" relevancy in people's minds, it's an enormous mistake. I say that to anyone.

I think most of us do that because we are lazy... (and also allows for more records to be broken) I can barely keep track of what happened in the 80s.

In my list, I didn't include anyone who won a slam pre-open era even if they were playing during open era. 0

 

[danieln1]

Safina really should have won that RG F in 09 :sobbing:

 

[shap_half]

Halep seems like the obvious choice for number one, but I can see the argument for Dementieva, too. TBH, I don't really care too much for last year's YE number one ranking, considering she won ONE title all season. (That is honestly not impressive.) Putting Dementieva outside the top 10 seems nuts to me. I don't know why she's only listed as having reached 3 other GS SF, when she definitely reached 7 more. She also has two Olympic medal, including a gold.

Pliskova, even with a few weeks as #1, is way too high. I don't think she's greater than either Radwanska (who won the YEC) and Zvonareva, who reached one additional final. Having said that, Karolina is perfectly capable of eclipsing both considering her career is early yet.

My top 5 would be
Dementieva
Halep
Safina
Jankovic
Radwanska

I can flip JJ and Aga, too.

 

[pov]

My Ranking!

Did you factor in the number of overall titles?

 

[Mario101]

Top 2 are clearly halep and dementieva.

Arguments for Halep. More slam final and better titles on tour.

Dementieva. Olympic gold and slam finals.

Right now the russian is ahead imo. What i found interesting was the tennis podcast with david law and catherine whitaker was saying simona was a better player than elena. Tbh i dont remember that much of her as i dont remember much of what happened in the world the years she was at her best

 

[Brooklyn90]

1. Halep
2. Dementieva
3. Safina
4. Radwanska
5. Jankovic

 

[miffedmax]

I think everyone knows my feelings on this matter.

 

[ZverDel]

Dementieva
Safina
Hantuchova

Halep (hopefully she wins one this year)

 

[petesz]

1. Dementieva - because the competition she was facing at her peak was just not comparable today. And she has two finals and olympic gold
2. Sukova and Fernandaz, basically they only lost to goats (Martina, Evert, graf, Seles) in all finals they were in, and they have achieved way more in doubles. Had they born a bit later and compete in this era...
3. Safina and Halep, both taking advantage of a weaker field to become number 1 but still failed to snatch a GS, considering Safina lost to Ivanovic, Serena and Kuzzy while Halep lost to Sharapova, Ostapenko and Wozniaki, I will give Safina a little edge.

 

[crazillo]

Manuela Maleeva actually had a tremendous career. One of the best players not to win a slam. She retired a tad too early as well. Some of the older players are certainly ranked above many of the newer one's posters have mentioned.