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End of an era: Only two remain from 2014’s WTA elite

Originally posted on TennisUpToDate.com | Last updated Jul 31, 2025 12:37 PM ET

When the season-ending WTA Finals were staged in Singapore in 2014, women’s tennis had never looked deeper.

The eight-player field featured a blend of super-champions and rising stars: Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep, Ana Ivanovic, Agnieszka Radwanska, Eugenie Bouchard, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki.

Between them they owned 28 Grand Slam singles titles, 25 weeks atop the rankings that year and a global fan-base big enough to pack any stadium on short notice.

Fast-forward to July 2025 and that star-studded cast has been reduced to a duo.

Petra Kvitova has announced that the upcoming US Open will be her farewell tournament.

Meanwhile, Caroline Wozniacki is on an open-ended maternity break after giving birth to her second child in May.

Everyone else? Officially in retirement.

Serena Williams (retired 2022) closed out a ledger that will likely remain untouched for decades: 23 Slams, 319 weeks at No. 1 and untold cultural impact.

Maria Sharapova (retired 2020) blended off-court marketing power with five major titles, carving a path for modern endorsement deals that today’s players routinely surpass.

Simona Halep (retired 2025) leaves with two majors and a reputation for squeezing every ounce out of a 5’6″ frame that never quits.

Ana Ivanovic (retired 2016) and Agnieszka Radwańska (retired 2018) each became national icons, Serbia’s first female singles No. 1 and Poland’s greatest shot-maker, before injuries and burnout shortened their stay at the top.

Eugenie Bouchard (retired 2025) never recaptured the magic of her 2014 Wimbledon final, but pioneered the influencer-athlete hybrid that WTA marketing departments now chase.

All six have since moved into commentary booths, philanthropy, motherhood or other ventures.

Petra Kvitova still owns one of the heaviest lefty forehands in tennis, but at 35 the Czech has decided 15 full seasons, and two Wimbledon trophies, are enough.

Her final act will be at Flushing Meadows, where she has twice reached the quarter-finals but never progressed further. She will depart with over 650 career wins and universal admiration for her comeback after the 2016 home-invasion knife attack that nearly ended her career.

In December 2016, a knife attack left Petra Kvitova needing surgery on her playing hand.

From not knowing if she would hold a racket again, she made the 2019 Australian Open final, coming one set from world #1.

Her speech that night was one for the ages. pic.twitter.com/jK7jKq84Q4
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) June 19, 2025

Caroline Wozniacki, three years Kvitova’s senior, staged a surprise comeback in 2023 after the birth of her first child, then stepped away again this spring.

The 2018 Australian Open champion says she has "no deadline" for a second return, though insiders insist she is eyeing the 2026 season. Should she come back, she would be the sole active link to that 2014 field.

The WTA’s landscape has undergone radical changes since 2014. Today’s Top 5, Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina and Naomi Osaka, average 23 years old and trade thunderous baseline blows rather than the counter-punching chess matches Radwanska once thrived on.

Technology has evolved too: Hawkeye Live has replaced line judges; performance-by-the-minute analytics guide training blocks; and social media monetisation means players like Gauff amass sponsorship portfolios that Sharapova once monopolised.

Yet the grind remains. The same year-round calendar that wore down Ivanovic and Bouchard still forces today’s stars to balance health against ranking points, only now with faster courts and heavier balls.

If Kvitova bows out in New York and Wozniacki opts not to return, the 2014 WTA Finals cohort will be fully consigned to history. Their exits will leave intangible gaps: no one paints angles quite like Radwanska, and few have matched Halep’s stubborn grit or Serena’s aura.

But sport moves forward. Świątek targets a non-calendar-year Slam; Gauff, still only 21, now commands prime-time scheduling once reserved for Williams, showcasing how the new generation honours the old by chasing its records.

So as 2025 heads into the US Open Series, savour Petra Kvitova’s last left-hand winners and keep an eye on Caroline Wozniacki’s social feeds for hints of another comeback. Soon, even the final two torch-bearers of that landmark Singapore season may join their peers in retirement, and women’s tennis will turn the page for good.

This article first appeared on TennisUpToDate.com and was syndicated with permission.

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