The 9 youngest players to reach top 10 of WTA Rankings: ft. Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis
Mirra Andreeva is the WTA’s youngest top-10 player since 2006 – but both she and her idol Maria Sharapova miss out on a place among the nine youngest players to hit that rankings milestone.
The nine youngest of all time are all under 18 years of age – with the top five all under the age of 16.
9) Natasha Zvereva – 17 years, 51 days (June 6, 1988)
An all-time doubles great, Zvereva’s singles career is rather unfortunately best remembered for being on the wrong side of Steffi Graf’s double bagel in the 1988 French Open final.
However, that run in Paris was enough for a 17-year-old Zvereva to crack the top 10 for the first time, moving up from world No 15 to world No 8.
The Belarusian ended the year as the world No 7 and reached a singles career high of world No 5 in May 1989.
8) Anna Kournikova – 17 years, 15 days (June 22, 1998)
Though she never won a WTA singles title, Kournikova remains one of the greatest prodigies in tennis history, famously making the last four of Wimbledon as a 16-year-old in 1998.
That run saw Kournikova briefly break into the top 10 for the first time just two weeks after her 17th birthday in June 1998, though her withdrawal from SW19 saw her drop straight back out.
The Russian would ultimately reach world No 8 in November 2000 but injuries ultimately put an end to her career when she was still in her early twenties.
7) Steffi Graf – 16 years, 52 days (August 5, 1985)
Graf is one of the youngest Grand Slam champions, one of the youngest world No 1’s – and one of the WTA’s youngest-ever top-10 stars.
The German was less than two months past her 16th birthday when she cracked the top 10 for the first time in August 1985, moving to world No 10 on August 5th.
She was a mainstay inside the top 10 for most of the next decade and a half, spending a record 377 weeks as the world No 1.
6) Martina Hingis – 16 years, 7 days (October 7, 1996)
One of the biggest WTA teen stars of the Open Era, five-time Grand Slam champion Hingis was at the peak of her powers at a young age.
Just one week after turning 16, the Swiss broke into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings for the first time in October 1996, rising to world No 10 in the rankings.
Hingis would win her first Grand Slam title just weeks later at the 1997 Australian Open and became the youngest No 1 of all time – a record she still holds – on March 1, 1997.
5) Monica Seles – 15 years, 283 days (September 11, 1989)
Another teen icon, former world No 1 Seles is the fifth-youngest player in WTA history to break into the world’s top 10.
Seles broke into the top 10 following her run to the fourth round of the US Open in 1989, moving up to world No 10 in the rankings after that result.
She would be as high as sixth by the end of 1989 and would later reach world No 1 as a 17-year-old in August 1991, holding that ranking for 178 weeks overall.
4) Gabriela Sabatini – 15 years, 109 days (September 2, 1985)
One of the leading stars of her era, Sabatini is best remembered for her US Open run in 1990 – though had a hugely consistent career outside of that.
The Argentine had just turned 15 when she reached the last four of Roland Garros in 1985, a display that helped her reach a then career-high of world No 10 in September 1985.
Sabatini ended the year as the world No 12, though sealed 10 consecutive year-end top-10 finishes after that, progressing to a high of third in the world.
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3) Tracy Austin – 15 years, 91 days (March 13, 1978)
Austin’s time at the top of the game was short but sweet and started with the US star breaking into the top 10 of the WTA Rankings aged only 15 in March 1978.
Just over a year and a half later she would win her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 1979 and backed that up with a second triumph in 1981.
Alongside being the third-youngest top-10 player, she is also the third-youngest world No 1 – trailing only Seles and Hingis.
2) Andrea Jaeger – 15 yrs, 68 days (August 11, 1980)
Jaeger was just 20 when she retired from tennis due to burnout in 1985, though the American was one of the leading players of the five years before that.
The American was just 15 years and 68 days old when she cracked the top-10 of the WTA Rankings in August 1980, making her the youngest player ever at the time.
Jaeger went on to reach world No 2 as a 16-year-old the following August and won 10 WTA singles titles, alongside being a French Open and Wimbledon runner-up.
1) Jennifer Capriati – 14 yrs, 214 days (October 29, 1990)
In one of the most extraordinary achievements in WTA history, former world No 1 Capriati was not even 15 when she made the top 10 for the first time on October 29, 1990.
After reaching the final of her first two WTA events and the semi-final of her Grand Slam debut at the 1990 French Open, Capriati lifted her first WTA title at the Puerto Rico Open that October.
That saw the US star move to world No 10 in the WTA Rankings, and she would finish 1990 as the world No 8.
After struggling with expectations and personal difficulties across the mid-1990s, Capriati memorably bounced back to win three majors and reach world No 1 in the early 2000s.
