2026 WTA Predictions

Welcome back to Everyone Watches Women's Tennis. In this quick episode of the podcast, I'll be discussing the recent tournament highlights, and making a call on the grand slam winners for the 2026 seasons, and year end top ten as well as highlight the players to watch out for in this upcoming season. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:29 Tour Updates
• 4:27 2026 Major Predictions
• 11:46 2026 Top Ten Predictions
• 19:57 Players to Watch
• 25:03 Final Predictions
• 26:12 Outro

Transcript

Matipa Ruzive (00:05)
Okay, let's start.

Hello everyone and welcome back to Everyone Watches Women's Tennis, a podcast that is solely focused on the women's game, giving you regular updates about what is taking place on the WTA Tour, both on and off the court. Hi everyone, happy new year and welcome to the 2026 WTA season. it is nice being back after such a long break.

I'll be very honest, I needed it. I did need that long break. Tennis is a year round sport and it's constant so it's overwhelming and I think I complain about this all the time but because of living in Australia and the time difference it takes up most of your day or it takes up most of your routine. I have to plan my life around watching the tennis. So yes, I definitely needed that break and

quickly before we get into anything else. I do want to apologize. I didn't end up rounding the year off after the WTA finals. I was away for like four weeks. I went back home to Zimbabwe on a family trip and then just lots of family things happening, events and stuff. So just the month of November and December were a lot. But now I feel a bit more refreshed. I feel like I'm ready to take on the season.

with fresh eyes, fresh perspective and all of that. And think there were obviously there were a lot of exhibitions played. I don't really care for exhibitions. I don't watch them. I don't pay attention. I pay attention to tennis news. if someone breaks up with their coach or this and that, I pay attention to that. But in terms of exhibitions, I could not care less and I don't need to consume any more tennis.

in this episode, I'm going to try and make it short and quick. I think I say that almost every episode and then it turns out to be 40 minutes to an hour. But this one, I'm really going to try my best. So I'll be predicting the slam winners for the year.

my end of year top 10 players to watch for 2026 and just random predictions I hate making predictions, especially at the start of the year because you just have like no information. You have some information, but you don't really know until you see people play and not even play the warm up tournaments because I've watched

Brisbane International. It's when you see them play Australian Open that's when you can really like see and tell. But that's the point of a prediction. You don't have all the information so let me stop complaining.

As I said, let me stop complaining.

Okay, so just before I get into any predictions, we've already had two tournament winners For the season, so I'll just quickly go through them. We'll start with Aryna Sabalenka and She won the Brisbane International Retaining her title from last year and she didn't drop a set all week and quite honestly not much to say She's looking ominous

Yes, she's looking ominous and I don't think there's much else to say. She looks in tip-top shape. Her serve looks back. yeah.

And honestly almost equally as impressive, she would have been probably equally as impressive if the match had gone three sets at least. But her opponent in the final was Marta Kostyuk and she had a great week as well with Brisbane. She beat three top 10 players in a row in straight sets. So that was Amanda Anisimova, Mira Andreeva and Jessica Pegula And I was thoroughly, thoroughly impressed. Don't want to go into too much, but

When I watch Marta please, especially last year,

she would play someone that she should on paper be beating easily and then she would start off the match behind she'll start off the match going down a break or going down a double break and then she'll find her way back to the match and work her way into it but she did that way too often that sometimes she would lose matches that she has no business losing so it was really nice seeing her starting off the year like this

and starting off her matches on the front foot. So I'm really excited to see where her season goes. She may be one to watch for the Australian Open. She did make the quarterfinals in 2024. So we shall see. And then the second tournament was the ASB Classic, which is played in New Zealand. And the title for this one was taken by Elina Svitolina, who again,

really struggled at the end of the year. She didn't play for like...

last few months of the season but it's nice to see her starting off the year right and she only dropped one set on her way to the title.

So we've got...

just that brief recap or brief news out of the way. Let's go into my 2026 season predictions. So I'm going to start with the slam winners or the major winners or the grand slam winners. Tennis purists hate when you call the Australian Open a grand slam because technically a grand slam is when you

have all four titles at the same time when you hold them all at the same time and the particular events are called majors if we're being super technical but we're not language changes and evolves and takes on new meaning so everyone understands when i mean a grand slam i just mean one of them but anyway starting with those predictions

Very very difficult, very difficult. I started writing this script like a week ago so I had no information and I hadn't seen anyone at the Brisbane International Play so it was a bit you know difficult to be making that but as I've seen the week the decision I made or the person that I picked to win the Australian Open has stayed the same.

and the

and the Brisbane International has made it, it's kind of cemented as the person I predict to win. So Australian Open, as I mentioned, I've, okay, before I say who I think is gonna win, which I'll be honest, this is probably what everyone else is guessing and it's pretty basic, but you can't go wrong considering, this person's made the final for the past three years. But.

Initially when I looked I was like, my gosh, it's the start of the year anyone can win I have three three names That I was like these people can take it out, but I have narrowed it down to one I don't think Madison Keys will be retaining a title and I think Aryna Sabalenka will win this year

The one thing that could stop her obviously other than some of the other players I don't see most of the players in the field stopping her except for like Elena Rybakina Coco maybe Iga but not really or Amanda Anisimova.

those are the only people out to see stopping her but also the Brisbane curse so no one who's won the Brisbane international has gone on to win the Australian Open and that's what happened last year. Aryna Sabalenka won the Brisbane international last year and then she went on to make the final but lose in the third set

And I feel like athletes are very very superstitious people so I hope it's not in their minds but it is. It would be in your mind some way. But if there's someone I believe would be able to break that curse, I'd say it's her. yeah. So that's all for the straight open. That's my prediction. basic but it makes sense.

Then moving on to the second major of the year, we've got Roland Garros. And at the Roland Garros again, few, there's quite a few names that pop up into my head to win the, to win the French Open. So obviously Iga

We've got Iga Swiatek

And then I've got Coco obviously she won last year and it's her best slam her best surface all of that I've got Arena again she's made the semi-final twice and one final which was last year and I think she really really wants to have she really wants to hold a grand slam on a surface that's not hard-court but

My prediction for the winner is a bit left field but not too out of the realm of possibility. I have got Mirra Andreeva, the 18 year old top 10 player. Mirra's made the semi-final before, she made the semi-final in 2024 and she plays really well on clay. I also think this would be her best opportunity to win her first slam.

and I know she's only 18 but we've seen her around for about three years and she's been making strides and getting better and better each season for those three years. Like last season she won two 1000 events back to back so the only next step would be a grand slam and

Maybe I'm just my own bias. I really like her and I really want her to succeed. So who knows? But I think Mira can take out the French Open

And then the next slam we have, which is like three weeks later, is Wimbledon. And with Wimbledon, again, quite a few names that pop into your head. And also for like the past 5,000 years, I'm joking, since Serena Williams, no one's been able to defend their Wimbledon title. And I feel like no one's been consistent at the tournament to defend their title, if that makes sense.

But last year we had Iga winning it and because of how Iga's changed her play style, it worked really well for her to be able to win that Wimbledon title but it's failing her on literally

every other surface. And when I say failing for EGA, it's like making semi-finals And with Wimbledon, again, I have like, it's so many things. It's a factor of who do I want in my heart to win? Who do I think will win?

and who should, maybe not even who should win, but like whose time is running out and I really want them to win type thing. But for Wimbledon again, there's a few names that like pop into my head. I've got like, Aryna Sabalenka again. she's always a name you bring up.

And then I've got Lena Rybakina, then I've got Iga, maybe she can defend her title. And then you've got like the Marketa for Androsovas of the world. And then you've got finalist who lost 6 love 6 love, Amanda Anisimova. And because I think Amanda is going to win a slam this year, I am predicting it to be Wimbledon for a full 180.

So just to turn, I guess, turn around her history at the tournament, but also because I think it's her best chance and on that surface.

Yes, so I predict Amanda to take the Wimbledon Crown this year.

Okay, and then for the last.

For the last major of the year, we've got the US Open. Again, I'm looking at my notes. What I wrote down initially was literally anyone can win the US Open. I feel like it's the most winnable slam for literally all the players.

but I am predicting the same person that I predicted last year to win it because this is a dream and not a dream because the person won't be able to do it 100 % they can do it they made the semi-finals of the US Open last year but I think it's something that a whole cohort of us are wishing would happen and I have noted down Naomi Osaka to take the US Open crown

She's looking healthy, fit, well right now there's an injury concern, but she's looking fitter as in she's moving better on the court based on watching her play. But I do think her game has to evolve to a certain level now against these top players. Cause when she was at the heart of her game,

The players around her, in my opinion, were not as consistent or as elite as the current top 10 now.

So I think Naomi has to take her game to another level. It has become a bit more.

has to be a bit more well-rounded But she has like eight months to do that.

before it's the US Open and she can take the title and I can be proven right. Okay, so the major's out of the way. I never feel down on myself for predicting something incorrectly. I think.

I'm more accurate again, obviously. I'm just more accurate when the slam comes around. I'm a more accurate. I'm a bit better, obviously, at predicting then. I don't know why I'm taking it so seriously. Calm down. Calm down. So the next thing to move on would be the top 10, end of year top 10 predictions.

For these ones, at first I was trying to do the maths, because maybe I'll

with rankings in tennis it's based on points and essentially each year you're just trying to do the same or even better than you did the year before so you can gain points or at least not lose any points. So when I was trying to figure out the rankings I was trying to do it mathematically being like who's got the most to gain, who's got the most to lose, blah blah blah blah blah blah but that just becomes complex and it's difficult okay.

So I eventually did my end of year top 10 rankings just based on vibes. Vibes, vibes, vibes. And a little bit of like last year's performance and seeing if people can back it up, which I will explain when I go through some of the players. But again, pure vibes, pure vibes. So before I go into my prediction for the end of year

I will do the current top 10 so you know where it stands. And when I say current, I mean what it was at the start of this year, not what it is right now. Because some, as I've said, some competitions have been played, so they've changed the rankings a little bit.

So starting with current top 10, start from number one, we've got Aryna Sabalenka. Then we've got number two, Iga Swiatek Number three, Coco Gauff Number four, Amanda Anisimova. Number five, Elena Rybakina Number six, Jessica Pegula Number seven, have Jasmine Paolini. Number eight, we've got Mira Andreeva. Number nine, we have Madison Keys. And then to round off the top 10, we've got Ekaterina Alexandrova.

that is our current top 10

So tipers end of year top 10, we'll start with 10 and work our way backwards because A reveal is more fun. So at number 10, I have Naomi Osaka.

Then coming in at number nine, world number nine, I predict, we have Jessica Pegula

and then at world number eight again i predict we have Belinda Bencic she's looking lethal by the way she is looking good then at number seven we've got Victoria Mboko number six i have listed down Elena Rybakina number five i have

Iga Swiatek

some of these ones where people have jumped a couple spots. I will explain. So with

Iga Swiatek Iga has quite a lot of points to defend this year. In that she won Wimbledon, she made the semi-finals of French, she made the semi-finals of Australian Open. She won

not Washington.

my gosh, I forgot the name of the tournament. She won in a thousand and then she made quarterfinals of US Open. The reason I'm like, she might drop her ranking a little bit is cause I don't think she'll be able to defend her Wimbledon title. And I don't know if she'll be able to make it to the semi-final of the Australian Open again. So she'd be losing a good chunk of points there as well. That's like my biggest reason. It just, and I also feel as though her and her coach are gonna part ways.

because I think in my personal opinion that relationship is not working. It worked for the Wimbledon but I don't even think that's down to the coach in a way. sue me. But I think if she changes her coach, again, it will take a little bit of time to get in the swing of things. So I do think she'll drop down a couple or a few in the rankings to number five. Then.

at world number four I've got Mira Andreeva. So Mira started off last year the year very well and she was in the top five for her ranking and then she wasn't able to defend some points and other people were performing a lot better than her so she finished the year at world number eight. But as I predicted her to win the French Open I think if she does that she can

make her way into the top five and be a permanent fixture. I think she still has a lot of points she can gain throughout the whole season and because she's ranked higher now she doesn't have to play the Sabalenkas or the Igas of the world until maybe quarterfinals, semis or the final which gives her more of an opportunity to gain points in most competitions. Then

At world number three, I have got Aryna Sabalenka. Yes, I know, I know, I know, I know. But Miss Sabalenka had a wonderful year last year. It's a half and half. had a fantastic year. She also had a bad year because she was losing in a lot of finals, but she was making a lot of finals. And with a lot of finals comes a lot of points.

And she wasn't just making 500 finals. She was making major finals and she was making 1000 finals. So she needs to either have the same year that she had last year or even better. Which I think she can do. The thing about Sabalenka right now, she's in her prime. She's in her prime slam winning years. She's in her prime title winning years. So.

I don't think I can ever say, she's declining, because I haven't seen any sign of her declining in her tennis or anything else. And she's also mentioned that she wants to get married and have children at the age of 30, and that's in about two and a half years. So I 100 % believe she can still win more slams, win more titles, because these are her prime years. But that year that she had last year was incredible.

and it'll be very very difficult to maintain that same standard so I think she might lose a few points here and there but she'll still obviously be top five but world number three and it's also I think other players are gonna do really well so they'll jump her like they'll skip above her and then

World number two ranking I have listed down Amanda Anisimova I have this feeling and I had this feeling when she was 17 and made the semi-finals the French Open that Amanda is going to come and shake the tennis world that she is someone who should be a world number one who should be winning slams here and there and I think this year she will win a slam and I think she'll be able to make she's currently world number number four

So I think it's not too much of a big deal for me to say I think she'll end the year as world number two.

She had a fabulous year last year and I think she can have an even better one this year. as in from start of the year to the end.

But that's about all on Amanda. I'm just excited to see where her future is going, where her tennis career is going. And then obviously there's a big name I didn't mention. You can tell because I didn't mention that name. That obviously means they're not dropping out of the top 10. They're definitely not dropping out of the top 10, which means for me that they will be crowned world number one at the end of the year.

and that person is Cori Gauff. So I've got Cori as world number, ending the year as world number one because she has a lot of points she can gain this season. I've been saying to my family, mainly my sisters, it's now time for Coco to play consistently well the whole year. Not these purple patches that she has when they get on clay.

or these purple patches that she has sometimes when they get to the North American hardcore swing. I want her to play consistently for the whole year from Australian Open to the WTA finals. And

I think and I hope it's on the cards for her this year. And although she did win the French Open, she doesn't have too many points to defend. She has a lot of places where she can gain points considering she lost first round Wimbledon, she made quarters in Australia, and she made only fourth round the US Open. There's a lot of space for her to gain points.

Especially in those 1000 tournaments where she was just losing randomly And not going as far as you would expect the world number three to be going But yeah, that's all on the end of your top ten I think that's the hardest prediction to make for me personally because people can just come out of nowhere win a grand slam and they get catapulted to the top ten But I also think there's some very consistent performers who've been in the top ten for like the past three four years

that it would take a lot for them to be knocked out of it.

so the next thing I'm going to talk about is the players to look out for in 2026.

So these are just some players that I think will have a good season, make a breakout. And when I say a good season in tennis, doesn't mean they'll win a grand slam. But they might do really well in certain tournaments or finally make a name for themselves and be like a consistent performer.

be a consistent performer on the tour.

So I'll start off with Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic is, she's a tennis veteran. I mean, she's only 28, but she just, last year she came back from maternity leave and she made the...

she made the semis off Wimbledon and then she made I think fourth round or even quarters off the Australian Open. So she had a very good comeback and seeing her performances at the United Cup so far, I she wants to have a great year. And I might have mentioned this on the podcast before, this is the best I've ever seen Bencic play.

and she was touted to be the next Martina Hingis or whatever they like to say when you're from the same country as a champion. But I think now all this pressure and expectation is off and she can just play tennis fully the way she wants. So it'd be exciting to see what she's going to do this year. Then the next player I've got is Victoria Mboko. Victoria Mboko, you've probably heard of her. She had a breakout year last year.

the breakout year is always fun. Like she won a thousand tournament in Canada at home. You know, she was making first, second, third rounds of slams, all of that stuff. And it's good, but it's always the second season where we see what you're made of. Cause you now have points to defend. You people now know your name. They know how you play. You're not a surprise when they face you on the court.

But I think she's up to the challenge as long as she can just keep fit and no injuries get in the way. Then the next player I've got is Linda Nosková. I have been waiting since 2024, where she made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. I have been waiting for Linda to make a bigger splash. I've been waiting for her to win a 1000. I've been waiting for her to make...

final for Grand Slam or least a semi-final and hasn't happened yet. And watching her last year, especially she lost three finals or something like that. I don't know what happens when she gets into those later stages, but I think this is the year where she can cement herself in the WTA. I can even see her creeping into the top 10 if she has a very, very good tournament somewhere. But Linda.

always had my eye on her. I like her playing style. I think she's very powerful. She's not super tall, not at all. She has easy strength, but she also has lot of finesse, which makes sense since she's from the Czech Republic and a lot of Czech players have a lot of finesse. So she's quite well-rounded.

Alright and then the next player the next player to look out for in 2026 I've got here is Jessica Bouzas-Maneiro She is she's like a consistent

Consistent name consistent player on the WTA tour, but she doesn't play qualifiers anymore. She's always there at the slams and She does really really well like she just beat Coco at the United Cup at the start of last week and I don't know. Maybe I just really like Jessica, but I like her attitude and her play style and I just think

I've been watching her for so long and some matches she's just so close but she's playing someone who's like either got so much more experience at that level and she can't seem to get over the line but I think 2026 will be the year where she gets over that line so keep her name in mind.

then the next player I've got here is Iva Jovic who is 18 years old and from the United States.

She's currently ranked world number 33 and she has been slowly improving as a player and I think this will be her breakout season when people know her name because she's very close to being seeded at the slams and that ensures you don't play another seeded player until at least the third round and although her performances

haven't seen her make a final or semi-final. she's been making second round, third rounds of slams and when you're that young that is a big deal. So she's one to watch out for. She's also won her first title in Guadalajara last year and that was a 500 level event.

was very very impressive from the 18 year old. So just keep keep your eye out for her and her name.

And then the next player I think I might be a bit premature in putting her here but I have got Teresa Valentova from Czechia and

She might be maybe a player to watch for 2027 but I'm just going to put her name out there for 2026. I remember watching a play against Coco at the French Open. She lost

she lost them straight says but it didn't feel like a walk over it felt like someone who's working their way up to be that level and she also made final of Japan Open last year so I I don't know I just think

She's an 18 year old who's world number 57, which is amazing all in itself. So I think she could make a splash at some big tournament this year. So keep an eye out.

So that's all I have to say on the players to look out for for the 2026 season. This is what I actually hope I'm right about. The other predictions I don't really care but with these predictions I think they're

they're the ones that I hope I'm correct about. Okay and then last the last thing I'll go through for this episode like I look I said it again it's like it's gonna be quick girl why are you still talking anyway this last section I've got about seven predictions I'm just gonna say them without any explanation it's just what I think what I feel in my heart. All right so starting

I have a teenager wins a slam this year.

Next, Elena Rybakina wins her second slam.

Number four, Iga Swiatek loses her first slam final.

Naomi Osaka back in the top 10.

deep run for Venus Williams at a major or 1000 tournament. So that's semi-final or further. the top 10.

That's not outlandish. None of those are outlandish at all, but we'll see if they come true. Nope, come true. they come.

We'll see if I have any psychic powers.

And that was all to finish off. I want to say thank you very much for coming back and for listening to this episode. If you liked it, please give it five stars on whichever platform you listen on. So that's either on Buzzsprout, Spotify or Apple podcasts. And please download the episode. It helps out listening helps of course, but please download the episode as well. And also,

I think I always forget to plug myself but please follow the

Everyone watches women's tennis Instagram page which is at EWT podcast. And on there, because I will be going to the Australian Open and some other pre-tournament events, I will actually be posting a lot of videos. So if you want to see what the event is like and everything, definitely go follow Instagram. But thank you again and have a lovely rest of your week.