Agnieszka Radwanska’s win at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships has brought her to a career-high No. 5 ranking. With the way she’s been playing over the past few months, the young Pole could go even higher in the rankings.
Ahead of her, though, are 2012 Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka; ’11 Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova; and Maria Sharapova, who’s made the finals at two of the past three Grand Slams. Caroline Wozniacki is ahead of Radwanska in the standings, too, but has shown to be vulnerable and could cede her place to Radwanska if the latter continues her hot streak.
That could result in a top four of Azarenka, Kvitova, Sharapova and Radwanska. With the way they’re playing and their current ages—all of them are under 25—they could have a lock on those top spots for quite some time.
That’s something that has become the norm on the ATP World Tour.
Over the past couple of years, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray have had a vice grip on the top. David Ferrer and Robin Soderling have broken through, but only momentarily. Last year, the ATP’s “Big 4” captured every Masters Series 1000 event on the calendar between them. They also took all four semifinal spots at two Majors in 2011 and the first one this year at the Australian Open. They’ve won more than 170 singles titles combined, including 32 Grand Slams.
A “Big 4” of Azarenka, Kvitova, Sharapova and Radwanska, of course, don’t come anywhere close to those numbers at this point. Sharapova, the veteran of the group, is the most accomplished with three Grand Slams to her credit and a former place atop the rankings. Kvitova, the youngster at 21, has shown the ability to win titles in bunches, as has current world No. 1 Azarenka.
As a matter of fact, the Belarussian has already started the Djokovic comparisons with her perfect start to 2012, which included winning her first Major title.
As mentioned earlier, Radwanska hasn’t been too bad herself in ’12. In fact, the only player she’s lost to all year has been Azarenka, who’s come out in their head-to-heads three times already this year, including at this year’s Aussie.
At the Australian Open, all four of them made the quarterfinals, with Radwanska failing to advance further. Kim Clijsters, the ’11 champ, broke up the group. However, that task will get increasingly tougher for the players on the WTA Tour as the potential “Big 4” continues to assert itself.
