Iga Swiatek vs Coco Gauff vs Aryna Sabalenka vs Elena Rybakina: WTA ‘Big 4’ state of play ahead of Wimbledon

WTA-Big-4

With Wimbledon just a week away, all eyes are on four players when it comes to the women’s singles draw.

Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina have separated themselves from the rest of the women’s game and there is no doubt that the top four on the WTA Rankings will be incredibly tough to beat at the All England Club.

Ahead of an intriguing third Grand Slam of the season, we look at how all four stack up as they eye another major title.

Iga Swiatek

Ranking: 1

2024 Titles: 5 (Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome, Roland Garros)

Grand Slam results: Australian Open R3, French Open champion

Wimbledon best: QF 2023

Undoubtedly the dominant force on the WTA Tour this year, Swiatek has been streets ahead of her main rivals when anywhere close to her best.

There have been some shock results – most notably her Australian Open loss – but her five titles place her well ahead of the rest of the field, and she has won some of the biggest titles on tour this season.

After a dominant clay court season where she lost just once, and ultimately won 19 matches in a row on her way to a fourth Roland Garros victory, the world No 1 heads to her weakest surface.

Following a long clay season she did not choose to play a warm-up tournament on grass, but that may have been a blessing in disguise after events in Berlin.

She has never made a Wimbledon semi-final but, playing some of the best tennis of her career, you would have to back her to at least go that deep this year.

Her draw will be hugely important for her chances, but she is arguably the favourite for the title as it stands.

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Coco Gauff

Ranking: 2

2024 Titles: 1 (Auckland)

Grand Slam results: Australian Open SF, French Open SF

Wimbledon best: R4 2019, 2021

The transformation Gauff has undertaken after losing in round one at SW19 last year is remarkable, with the American now world No 2 and a Grand Slam champion.

The 20-year-old has found huge consistency at Slams recently, winning the US Open and then reaching the Australian and French Open semi-finals this year.

However, she has not reached a final since her sole title win of 2024 in Auckland, losing a string of semi-finals since then.

Whether that is a mental block or merely coming up against other elite opponents remains to be seen, but it is clear that her weaknesses – her second serve, and forehand – are still exploitable.

But the American does love the grass and though she has never made a Wimbledon quarter-final, her Slam credentials recently make her a genuine title contender.

The question is what can she do to counteract the likes of her fellow top four members, should she face them?

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Aryna Sabalenka

Ranking: 3

2024 Titles: 1 (Australian Open)

Grand Slam results: Australian Open champion, French Open QF

Wimbledon best: SF 2021, 2023

There is perhaps no more consistent Slam player on the WTA than Sabalenka, who had reached six straight Slam semi-finals before illness affected her in a French Open quarter-final defeat.

That loss has had a significant rankings blow, as the world No 3 will be on the same half of the draw as one of Swiatek or Gauff.

But, she has proven that the early Slam jitters that dogged her career are a thing of a past, and her losing early at Wimbledon would be a bigger shock than Swiatek, Gauff, or Rybakina doing so.

The concern for Sabalenka is how serious the shoulder injury she sustained in Berlin is, as her retirement in her quarter-final there was the very first of her career.

If that is just a precaution, the Australian Open winner loves the grass and, after losing three-set semi-finals in 2021 and 2023, would be a heavy favourite to reach a second Grand Slam final of the year.

Elena Rybakina

Ranking: 4

2024 Titles: 3 (Brisbane, Abu Dhabi, Stuttgart)

Grand Slam results: Australian Open R2, French Open QF

Wimbledon best: Champion 2022

It is hard to know what to make of Rybakina’s chances at Wimbledon.

On one hand, pressure may be off her more than the three women ranked above her – as she is the only one of the top four to have won this title, doing so in 2022.

But the Kazakh has failed to reach the last four of a major since the Australian Open last year and has again been dogged by illness issues throughout 2024.

Rybakina has been a force on the WTA, winning three prestigious WTA 500 events; she has won more titles than Gauff and Sabalenka this season.

However, illness saw her Indian Wells and Rome title defences come to a halt, and saw her out of Berlin in the quarter-final stage – while she has suffered tough defeats at the Slams in 2024.

We know Rybakina can win Wimbledon and if she is healthy, she is among the very top favourites – but you cannot guarantee that will be the case.