WTA Tour: The 7 under-the-radar talents to watch in 2024

Alycia Parks
Alycia Parks celebrates winning a point

Coco Gauff becoming the breakout star of 2023 came as little surprise those who have been picking her to be the star of the year every year since she was 15 years old, but you claim every victory you can in prediction punditry.

Here we intend to look at seven under-the-radar talents who might not be anyone’s pick to have a great 2024.

1 Jessica Pegula

If you’re raising your eyebrows at describing Jessica Pegula as an under-the-radar star you’re probably right to be skeptical.

However, Pegula has picked up something that modern athletes dread and that is a narrative that has been foisted onto her as the media heap pressure on her over her inability to get beyond the last eight in a Grand Slam.

Pegula has Grand Slam winning quality, though and 2024 might just be the year she proves it and shakes off her last eight blues.

2 Karolina Muchova

Despite ending 2023 in the top ten and reaching the Roland Garros final and the semis at Flushing Meadows, not a lot of tennis column inches are devoted to Karolina Muchova.

She has some very illustrious compatriots in Petra Kvitova, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova, who have perhaps obscured her rise to prominence.

Muchova would do well to use the way she seems to fly under the radar to her further advantage. She will be a big threat at the French Open again and a contender for a medal at the Olympics.

3 Beatriz Haddad Maia

Beatriz Haddad Maia has finished the last two seasons in the top 20 players in the world but she is another player who has often shown glimpses of having something special in her bag.

A winner in Zhuhai this season, the athletic left-hander has the all-court game to be a threat in every Grand Slam.

At the 2023 French Open, Haddad Maia became the first Brazilian woman in to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros in the Open Era. However, she still hasn’t generated a lot of buzz as a potential big title winner.

4 Jasmine Paolini

Jasmine Paolini will turn 28 during the next season and as a player just coming into her prime could be a real threat on clay.

Paolini has been at her best in home tournaments, winning a WTA 125 title in Florence and reaching the final in the WTA 250 in Palermo.

She is well-placed to use her experience to make a big push towards being a top ten player.

5 Emma Navarro

Emma Navarro has shown a great appetite for getting court time this season, taking on assignments in WTA 125s, Challenger and ITF level.

She has plenty of women ahead of her on the American pecking alone has a toughness about her that gives her the look of a champion.

Navarro racked up 63 match wins this season in a total of 87 and only one player in the top 50 entered more tournaments than the 22-year-old American across her season to date.

6 Linda Noskova

Another great talent from the Czech republic, Linda Noskova, is just 19-years-old but has done well to establish herself on the WTA Tour.

Noskova came close to winning her first WTA Tour title in her home event in Prague before losing out to Nao Hibino in the final.

She may not threaten the Grand Slam champions but Noskova looks an almost certainty to win her first title in 2024.

7 Alycia Parks

Alycia Parks has a lot going for her and she is generating a fair bit of hype but she isn’t yet everyones pick to set fire to the court in 2024.

However, Parks could just put things together after a very busy 2023 season.

If she can build momentum of any sort in 2024, she could be a tricky player to contend with for even the best on the WTA Tour.

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