In a recent interview with Eurosport, former German tennis player Andrea Petkovic spoke about the exciting opportunities ahead for women’s tennis. It depends on the top 4 ranked players in the world – Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, and Elena Rybakina. Petkovic, who was a semi-finalist in the 2014 French Open, mentioned that these 4 players may become the ‘Fab Four’ of tennis.
This is because each of these players has the potential to beat the other on any given day on any surface. They would only need to play more matches against each other. Petkovic was quoted as saying –
“I think so. We have more surprises in women’s tennis than in men’s tennis thanks to the best-of-three matches, even at Grand Slam events, where the favourite is more likely to get out of a tricky situation in the best-of-five mode,” said Petkovic.
Petkovic was so confident about the opportunities that lay ahead for women’s tennis, that she believes it has the potential to create better competition and more excitement than men’s tennis. Petkovic further shared her thoughts.
She continued, “Nevertheless, I see the quartet mentioned as a tick above all the others. It would be desirable for these four to play each other more often. This is the case at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, but overall it still happens too rarely.”
The Porsche Tennis Grand Prix or the Women’s Stuttgart Open starts in a few days (13th April – 21st April). Petkovic cited this as an example of all 4 of them playing in the same tournament, which raises the bar of competition and thereby raises the overall excitement for WTA events altogether. The belief is that women’s tennis becomes as entertaining and high quality as men’s tennis due to rivalries such as the ones Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have.
“If that changes, these players will become stars who shine beyond the world of tennis – and we will have rivalries like the one between Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz and Sinner,” Petkovic concluded.
New plans are set in place to raise the prize money given for WTA events, which would make it equal to ATP tournaments by 2027-2033. Therefore, if Petkovic’s analysis is true, it will only further the cause of women’s tennis even further and allow more young girls to pick up tennis as a profession. The key to this success also lies heavily in ‘1 out of the Fab Four’ players.
Coco Gauff may be the biggest name among those responsible for advancing women’s tennis. That is because she is American and after the Williams sisters, no one besides Gauff has quite engulfed the American audiences’ fascination and attention towards tennis.
Petkovic believes that if Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka, & Coco Gauff play each other more often, they will become stars that shine beyond tennis & their rivalries will be similar to Alcaraz, Sinner, & Djokovic
“Nevertheless, I see the quartet mentioned as a tick… pic.twitter.com/fsAphryWEe
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 9, 2024
Where will Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, and Elena Rybakina play next?
After the Stuttgart Open, comes a WTA 1000 Masters event – The Mutua Madrid Open. So far, Swiatek, Sabalenka, and Gauff have confirmed their entry into the Madrid Open. There are no reports, however, about Rybakina’s participation so far.
Rybakina had a good run at the Miami Open 2024, before her loss in the final. She is yet to confirm that after her 5-7, 3-6 loss to Danielle Collins in the Miami Open final.
