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Former top WTA stars in danger of ending top 100 stints including multiple former Grand Slam champions

Originally posted on TennisUpToDate.com | Last updated May 22, 2025 12:16 AM ET

While it can be so sweet to be at the top, it an also soon go and a trio of players could soon be descending out of the top 100 very quickly including multiple former Grand Slam champions.

What became clear during this past week's WTA Rankings were the stark drops for in particular Marketa Vondrousova who has had an injury nightmare since her heroic Wimbledon win two years ago.

What seems to be the case with the top Czech stars is their inability unfortunately to dodge injury. Vondrousova has long suffered in the past with her wrist and her shoulder is the latest problem. Barbora Krejcikova too has barely played since winning Wimbledon the year after Vondrousova.

While Karolina Muchova spent most of last season on the sideline but hasn't done much of note to kick on this year and has been on and off the court. This though presents Vondrousova with problems two years on from her Grand Slam win. She used to be World No.6 and has dropped 90 spots in two years.

She nearly played during the clay court swing but then suddenly withdrew due to injury which saw social media users criticise a band of players for trying to play when they are not 100%. Paula Badosa for instance being one where she has tried to return up until this week in Strasbourg but has often withdrawn due to her crippling back injury.

But unlike Badosa who has been top 10 this year, Vondrousova has less of a ceiling to land on. She is down to World No.96 this week and could fall behind Bianca Andreescu even who is in the top 100 but has barely played until recently. She on the other hand though is picking up some steam despite a Roland Garros qualifying defeat.

Maria Sakkari too is in danger of sliding albeit she went up this week. She has shown form compared to the others as of late and reuniting with Tom Hill has shown that there may be a route back for the Greek. But despite that, the pull of the rankings may not be on her side in terms of staving off a top 100 drop. Leolia Jeanjean is currently 100th on the live rankings and is only around 50 points off her.

Albeit unlike others, Sakkari aside from a third round at Wimbledon last year has little to defend. She lost in the first rounds of both the French Open and US Open and then took the rest of the year off. Sakkari was critical before of being written off after dropping for the first time after having a shoulder injury.

But results are needed fast. She has played qualifying for events when needed though so in reality is trying her best to claw it back. Whether it stops the drop though remains to be seen.

Going slightly further up, former World No.1 and multiple Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka also continues to fall. It was only a few weeks ago that Vika was the last player born in the 1980's to drop out of the top 50.

She is now 74th and defends some important results in the next few months including during the grass with a semi-final in Berlin.

She did withdraw from Wimbledon though last year due to a shoulder injury and lost early at Roland Garros to Mirra Andreeva so has that on her side. But also is the only one of the trio to have fallen before and come back. So does she have one final push in her to return to her best after being top 20 for the majority of the past five years?

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

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