At 15 years and three months, Coco Gauff came through qualifying into the 2019 Wimbledon main draw, the youngest player to do so in the Open era, then beat five-time champion Venus Williams in the first round and ran on to the fourth. The American, born in Boca Raton and raised in Delray Beach, Florida, turned that fearless debut into 2 Grand Slam singles titles, one on each of two surfaces. She won the US Open on home hard courts in 2023, then the Roland Garros clay in 2025, beating Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in both finals.
The game underneath is speed and defence. Gauff covers a court as well as anyone on tour, dragging rallies she looks to be losing back into ones she wins, which is why the finals against Sabalenka and the long duels with Iga Swiatek so often go the distance. She rose to a career-high world No. 2 in singles in June 2024 and has held the doubles No. 1 ranking as well, her 13 career titles built out from one major on hard and one on clay. Still one of the youngest players near the top, she has time to add more.
Thirty-one. That is how many places Qinwen Zheng climbed in this week's WTA rankings, from No. 54 to No. 23. It puts her back inside the top 50 and within three places of the top 20, the biggest climb inside the top 100 this week.
Ranking taleTwo. That is how many Grand Slam titles Elena Rybakina has won in 2026. She beat top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4 5-7 6-2 in the US Open final for her third career major, after Wimbledon in 2022 and this year's Australian Open, and it means every Grand Slam final the pair have played in 2026 has gone Rybakina's way.
Match tale