Tennis season is hilarious, if you think about it. We’re one-fourth of the way through the year, with one Slam in the books. And now that we’ve got a pretty solid read for who’s playing better than whom, we are completely changing the surface of play — from hard to clay — for the next couple of months!
Mind you, this is a great thing. The athletes are professionals! Make things difficult! Keep things fresh! But it renders players’ end-of-March form only semi-relevant.
Let’s take stock of said form all the same. With the clay-court season upon us, let’s look at which tennis players have been putting together the best results in recent weeks and months. When I couldn’t decide between two players, I used clay prowess as a future-proofing tiebreaker.
On both the men’s and women’s tours right now, there’s a major “top three and everyone else” vibe, albeit with a dangerous and intriguing No. 4. Here are the top 10 from both tours.
Women
1. Iga Swiatek
WTA ranking: 1
Tennis Abstract ranking: 1
2023 record (vs. top 50): 16-4 (9-4)
Despite straight-set losses to Barbora Krejcikova in Dubai and to Elena Rybakina in both Australia and Indian Wells — and despite a rib injury that kept her out of the Miami field — the world No. 1 gets the No. 1 spot here too. She has won…
