Ons Jabeur leads list of WTA stars hoping to avoid huge rankings drop on clay

Oli Dickson Jefford
The 2024 season has proven difficult so far for Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur has struggled so far in 2024

It has largely been business as usual at the start of the 2024 WTA season, with some big names thriving and a few surprise champions at some of the biggest events.

Aryna Sabalenka successfully defended her Australian Open crown and Iga Swiatek has already won two WTA 1000 tournaments, with Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff also picking up silverware.

But not all of their elite colleagues have fared quite so well, and there are few players in and around the top of the game who will be eager to turn around their form.

With the clay court season getting underway, here are five WTA players searching for form – and to save their rankings.

Ons Jabeur

It has been a truly dreadful season for Jabeur, with the Tunisian trailblazer languishing down at 81st in the race for the WTA Finals.

The three-time Slam runner-up was hampered by injury in a stunning second round loss to Mirra Andreeva at the Australian Open and has been unable to find any form since then, winning just twice this season.

A former champion in Madrid and runner-up in Rome, and a Roland Garros quarter-finalist last year, the 29-year-old will be desperate to turn her season around on the dirt.

But with a potential opening clash against Miami Open champion Danielle Collins in Charleston this week, she may struggle to get any rhythm on her 2024 clay debut.

READ MORE: WTA Rankings: Iga Swiatek edges closer to another milestone, Danielle Collins’ rise confirmed

Marketa Vondrousova

Much like the woman she beat to win a surprise Wimbledon title last summer, Vondrousova has not had a fun time on court in 2024.

The Czech has just one quarter-final to her name this season – where she blew a 6-2, 5-1 lead against Sorana Cirstea – and in total has only five wins compared to five losses.

The world No 9 currently sits down in 35th in the WTA Race and with 2000 ranking points potentially falling off come SW19, she will be looking to develop a cushion throughout this clay court season.

Clay is a strong surface for Vondrousova’s strongest surface and she was a surprise finalist at Roland Garros five years ago; she will hope to channel that form over the coming months.

Beatriz Haddad Maia

One of the greatest competitors on the WTA Tour, ‘Bia Mia’ has forged a reputation for staggeringly long matches in recent times, though she has been on the wrong side of the result on too many occasions this season.

The Brazilian has amassed a disappointing 8-9 record so far this campaign, with her solitary semi-final of the season coming back in Abu Dhabi in early February.

A lack of match wins sees Haddad Maia sit only 30th on the year-end rankings and she is under pressure to protect her current live ranking of 13th this clay court season.

She reached the last four of Roland Garros a year ago, and failure to protect those points across the coming weeks could see her slide outside the top 20.

Veronika Kudermetova

Kudermetova has been a stalwart in the top 20 for a good couple of seasons now, but the world No.19 is potentially facing a massive fall down the rankings if she is unable to turn her form around.

Former doubles Grand Slam finalist Kudermetova has just won four singles matches all year, failing to make a single quarter-final across her eight events this year.

Once such a consistent competitor at WTA level, she finds herself down in 57th in the WTA Race for the year so far and will be hoping for a change in fortune on the clay.

And she needs it to come sooner rather than later, with semi-final points to defend at the WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome across the next few weeks. 

Barbora Krejcikova

It has been a stop-start season to date for former world No 2 Krejcikova, who has been affected by injury at points throughout the early stages of 2024.

After starting the year at 10th in the WTA singles rankings, the Czech ace has already dropped to 25th after being unable to defend her WTA 1000 crown in Dubai.

Krejcikova has played only eight matches this season and sits down in 27th in the WTA Race, though if she is fit, she could be primed for a strong clay season.

The Czech was famously a surprise Roland Garros champion back in 2021 and she will be hoping to recapture that level of tennis this spring.

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