Which Country Produces the Best Tennis Players on the WTA Tour?
A glance at tennis statistics to find out which country has the most female tennis players in the WTA Ranking. We’ll see which nationalities are in the leading positions in the top 100, 200, 500 and 1000 of the WTA Ranking.
Until the creation of the Open Era in 1968, women’s tennis was dominated by 4 nations: United States, Australia, Great Britain and France. These countries host the 4 most important tournaments each year — the Grand Slam tournaments. In the past, female tennis players could not face each other as often as they do today. In the amateur era, there was no money and traveling to another country for tennis tournaments was very rare. If we add to this the fact that several decades ago it was not possible to travel by airplane, going to another continent could take up to a dozen days and was very expensive. For this reason, among the first female champions of the Australian Open we have mainly Australians, the US Open — Americans, and Wimbledon — the British. The development of technology and the coming of the first sponsors in tennis caused the competition to become international over time. Today in the top 10 of the WTA Ranking we have female tennis players from 8 different countries.
Which country is now the best in women’s tennis?
We will analyze the WTA Ranking and the number of female tennis players who are in the top 100, 200, 500 and 1000 from each country. Are the United States, Australia, Great Britain and France still among the strongest tennis nations?
Most players in the top 100 of the WTA Ranking
The best are the United States and Russia. These are two very strong tennis nations and rather not surprising to anyone, but the 3rd position is quite a shock. The Czech Republic has a lot of young talented players and perhaps their situation will improve even more in the next few years. Most notably missing from the top spots are Australia, Great Britain and France.
Most players in the top 200 of the WTA Ranking
The United States and Russia continue to have the most representatives in the top 200. Tennis powerhouses like Great Britain, Australia and France, which is ranked 3rd with the Czech Republic, also appeared in this ranking.
Most players in the top 500 of the WTA Ranking
Another comparison concerns the top 500 in the WTA Ranking. Number 1 with a clear advantage is the United States, second is Russia and third is France. Japan has as many as 21 players in the top 500 of the WTA Ranking which puts them in 5th place ex aequo with Germany.
Most players in the top 1000 of the WTA Ranking
And a final chart showing the number of female tennis players in places 1–1000 in the WTA Ranking by nationality. The winner was the United States with 117 female tennis players. Second is Russia, which has 75 players. There is little difference in the next places, with Italy having 57, France 55 and Japan 53 ranked tennis players. The top 10 is rounded out by Romania, which has 32 tennis players, and many of you were certainly surprised by Slovakia, which has as many as 22 tennis players in places 1–1000 of the WTA Ranking.
The best tennis continent is…
How many players does Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia and Africa have in the top 100, 200 and 1000 of the WTA Ranking?
The best tennis nations considering the population.
Do these rankings reflect well which country is the best in women’s tennis? Can the Czech Republic be compared with the huge United States? I will make another comparison that takes into account the number of tennis players in the WTA Ranking per 1 million population of each country. This is more fair for smaller countries. Who will win in this ranking?
That’s how many female tennis players in the TOP 1000 WTA Ranking countries have per 1 million population.
Central European and Balkan countries are the best. For example, with a population of over 2 million, Slovenia has as many as 10 players in the top 1000 of the WTA Ranking, which converts to a score of 4.81.
This is the result of the countries with the largest populations in the world. China and India, with a population of about 1.4 billion, rank distantly with 24 (China, score 0.016) and 13 (India, score 0.009) players among the world’s top 1,000 female tennis players.
Let’s further compare the performance of each continent.
Why are Europe, South America and Australia better at tennis than South America, Asia and Africa?
Why is it that in these rankings one country outperforms another? In other sports, such as soccer, the powerhouses are countries from South America. In tennis, despite a few exceptions, we see the dominance of countries from Europe and the United States. What are the reasons for this?
- Money.
Tennis is a very expensive sport. Equipment, tennis court rentals, coaches, travel expenses, and hotels cost each tennis player at least tens of thousands of dollars a year. It is estimated that training a good player from junior to senior age can cost up to several hundred thousand dollars. That’s why tennis is not so popular in countries with lower GDP.
- Great tennis stars and their impact on the popularization of the sport.
Among the top female tennis players in history we have Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King and Serena Williams from the United States, Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong from Australia, Steffi Graf from Germany, Martina Hingis from Switzerland and Justine Henin and Kim Cjisters from Belgium. Their successes have inspired and encouraged children and young people from their countries to practice tennis, and adults to watch them by buying tickets to WTA Tour tournaments or on television. Currently, one of the best tennis players in the world is Iga Swiatek from Poland. Becoming №1 in the WTA Ranking and winning Grand Slam Titles has increased the popularity of tennis in Poland and now tennis academies are under siege. The recent success of American Coco Gauff has also led to increased interest in tennis, which was and still is a very popular sport in the United States. The United States has a strong sports culture, and tennis has historically been an important part of it. The nation has a rich history of producing legendary tennis players, which has helped keep the sport popular for decades.
- WTA Tour Calendar.
The major WTA tennis tournaments are held in the United States, Australia and Europe. Grand Slams include the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon (Great Britain) and the US Open. Out of 9 tournaments of the WTA 1000 rank, we have as many as 3 in the United States and one each in Canada, Spain, Italy, China and only for the last few years in Mexico and alternately every year in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Major tournaments attract the best tennis players, have the largest prize pools and the largest audiences.
Future?
The beauty in sports is that talent can be born anywhere in the world. Currently, some of the top tennis players are Ons Jabeur from Tunisia, Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, Iga Swiatek from Poland, Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic, Maria Sakkari from Greece and Jeļena Ostapenko from Latvia. The situation is changing dynamically and the popularity of tennis is also growing in China, thanks to the increasing performance of the talented Qinwen Zheng and Xinyu Wang. Who knows, maybe in a dozen years or so the rivalry of countries and continents in women’s tennis will be more balanced?
