Clara Tauson hits through the court the way few on the WTA tour can, a Copenhagen-born power baseliner whose serve buys cheap points and whose flat groundstrokes end rallies early. At 16 she won the 2019 Australian Open girls' title and became the first Danish girl to top the junior rankings. Titles in Lyon and Luxembourg followed in 2021, both before she turned 19, and then her back gave out: injuries wrecked the next two seasons and dropped her deep into triple-digit rankings.
The rebuilt version arrived in 2025. She took the Auckland title in January, beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on the way to the Dubai final, where Mirra Andreeva stopped her, and reached a first fourth round at Wimbledon. By September she stood at a career-high No. 12, Denmark's best ranking since Caroline Wozniacki. The back remains the asterisk: two herniated discs, confirmed in May 2026, have cost her rhythm and ranking points. Healthy, she plays first-strike tennis that the very best have already failed to solve.
Five hundred and eighty. That is the ranking of Thea Frodin, the wildcard who opens the US Open against second seed Elena Rybakina. The women's singles draw was made today, ahead of the tournament's start on 30 August, with top seed Aryna Sabalenka, the world No. 1 and defending champion, opening against Camila Osorio.
Draw taleFive. That is where Iga Swiatek stands on the WTA rankings after Toronto, up three from 8, and her climb moved Mirra Andreeva, Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova down one each, to 6, 7 and 8.
Ranking tale