COLUMN: Six WTA Players I’ll be watching closely in 2027

From a former Grand Slam champion finding her way back to a handful of teenagers with enormous potential, these are six women whose progress could make next season particularly interesting.

What better time than the final day of the WTA Finals to look ahead to 2027? As the curtain comes down on another long, fascinating, and occasionally bewildering season of women’s tennis, I find myself thinking less about who finished at the top of the rankings and more about who might be going somewhere interesting.

It’s easy enough to predict that Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek, Coco Gauff, and the other established stars will remain important figures in women’s tennis. They have the talent, experience, and resources to compete for the biggest titles. There will be surprises, of course, but predicting that great players will continue to be great isn’t particularly adventurous.

What interests me more are the players whose careers are at an inflection point. The teenager who has made an impressive climb but hasn’t yet discovered how good she can become. The former champion trying to put years of injuries behind her. The player from a country that doesn’t regularly produce top-50 talent who suddenly finds herself within striking distance of something special. These are the stories that make following tennis over an entire season so rewarding.

I’ve settled on six women I’ll be watching particularly closely in 2027. They’re at very different stages of their careers, and my expectations for them vary considerably. One might become a top-five player. Another might make an enormous statement simply by establishing herself inside the top 50. All six have given me reasons to believe that next year could be important.

I have probably written or said some version of “Bianca Andreescu is back” more times than I care to remember. And yet, here we are again.

The former US Open champion has endured enough injuries, interrupted seasons, and false starts to fill several tennis careers. Every time she appears to be finding her form, something seems to happen that sends her back to the beginning. But what Andreescu accomplished in the closing weeks of 2026 deserves genuine attention.

Playing largely on the WTA 125 circuit, the Canadian put together an extraordinary run of results, winning 19 of 20 matches, reaching four consecutive finals, and collecting three titles in less than a month. That remarkable stretch has pushed her live ranking back inside the top 80, putting her in a position where direct entry into the Australian Open main draw looks increasingly likely.

For someone who has spent so much of her career struggling simply to remain on the court, that’s a significant achievement.

The interesting thing about Andreescu is that we already know what her best tennis looks like. We’ve seen her beat the finest players in the world, handle enormous pressure, and win a Grand Slam. Her problem has never been a shortage of ability. It has been finding a way to stay healthy long enough to use it.

My prediction is that Andreescu moves back into the top 50 in 2027 and, assuming she can avoid another significant injury, stays there. I’m not predicting another US Open title or a sudden return to the top 10. At this stage, a full, healthy season of consistently good tennis would be a tremendous accomplishment. And after everything she’s been through, it would be awfully nice to see.

There’s something particularly enjoyable about discovering a young player before she becomes a household name. For me, 18-year-old Austrian Lilli Tagger falls squarely into that category.

Tagger has climbed to No. 54 in the live rankings, an impressive achievement for someone still in her teens. A former French Open junior champion who has already enjoyed success at the professional level, she’s beginning to look like a player who belongs on the main WTA Tour.

She also possesses something increasingly unusual in modern women’s tennis: a one-handed backhand. It’s a beautiful shot when executed well, and Tagger’s game has an elegance that makes her particularly enjoyable to watch.

Of course, pretty tennis doesn’t necessarily win matches. What matters now is whether she can produce her best level regularly against players who are older, stronger, and considerably more experienced.

That’s where 2027 becomes interesting. I don’t expect Tagger to suddenly become a Grand Slam contender, and I don’t think she needs to. A move of another 15 to 20 places in the rankings would put her somewhere in the mid-to-high 30s, which would be a terrific accomplishment for a player her age.

More importantly, it would establish her as a genuine presence on the WTA Tour rather than simply another promising teenager. Austria hasn’t exactly been overflowing with elite women’s tennis talent in recent years. Tagger has an opportunity to change that conversation. I’ll be watching closely.

Not every compelling tennis story involves a player who might someday win Wimbledon. Sometimes the story is about someone who has worked her way steadily through the rankings, far from the spotlight, and is suddenly within reach of an achievement that would mean an enormous amount to her and to tennis in her country.

That’s why I’m particularly interested in Lanlana Tararudee. The 22-year-old Thai player has enjoyed a remarkable 2026 season, climbing from outside the top 130 to within striking distance of the top 60. She has collected important titles on the WTA 125 circuit and demonstrated that she can win consistently against increasingly difficult opposition.

That last point matters. Plenty of players enjoy one excellent tournament, collect a substantial number of ranking points, and then struggle to reproduce the result. Tararudee’s progress has been built on something more substantial.

Thailand has produced some very good tennis players over the years, including Tamarine Tanasugarn, who reached the world’s top 20. But it remains a country where a woman establishing herself among the world’s top 50 would be a significant sporting achievement.

I think Tararudee has a realistic opportunity to do exactly that in 2027. If she can put together another season resembling the one she’s just completed, there’s no reason she can’t finish somewhere in the 40s.

That might not generate the headlines that accompany a teenage Grand Slam champion, but it would be a wonderful accomplishment. And frankly, those are the kinds of stories that deserve more attention in tennis.

At some point, somebody really needs to investigate what they’re putting in the water in the Czech Republic. The country has produced an almost absurd number of outstanding women’s tennis players relative to its population. Just when you think you’ve identified the next generation of Czech stars, another one appears.

Enter Laura Samson. The 18-year-old has climbed to No. 107 in the live rankings following a semifinal appearance in Colombia this week, bringing her tantalizingly close to the world’s top 100.

Samson has a wonderfully solid game. She’s not necessarily the kind of player who immediately overwhelms you with one spectacular weapon, but there’s a maturity to her tennis that I find appealing. She competes well, understands how to construct points, and already looks comfortable against experienced professional opponents.

Those qualities are particularly valuable when a young player begins making the transition from lower-level tournaments to the main WTA Tour. And Samson is clearly getting closer.

She’s already won a WTA 125 title, and her recent results suggest that breaking into the top 100 is more a question of when than if. My expectation is that she gets there relatively early in 2027 and then begins working her way toward the top 75.

Could she go considerably higher? Absolutely. But I’d rather see her establish herself, gain experience against stronger opposition, and continue developing the qualities that have brought her this far. One thing seems reasonably certain. If you’re looking for the next wave of women’s tennis talent, ignoring the Czech Republic would be a very strange strategy. They just keep producing players.

Here’s a prediction that might make me look either very smart or rather foolish by this time next year. I believe Iva Jović has top-five potential.

The 18-year-old American currently sits at No. 13 in the live rankings, having reached a career high of No. 11. Those are extraordinary numbers for someone so young, but they’ve also created a curious situation.

After her rapid rise, some observers have looked at the second half of her 2026 season and suggested that perhaps we’ve already seen something close to her ceiling. I don’t buy it.

There’s a tendency in modern tennis to become impatient with young players who experience success early. Once someone makes a dramatic move up the rankings, we almost immediately begin expecting the next dramatic move. When it doesn’t happen, we start questioning whether the player has enough weapons, enough power, or enough variety to compete with the very best.

Sometimes those concerns turn out to be justified. But Jović is 18 years old. She’s still developing physically, learning how to manage a demanding professional schedule, and figuring out how to compete against opponents who have spent years studying the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s best players. And she’s already No. 13.

What I like about Jović is her competitive intelligence, her consistency, and her willingness to take on difficult opponents without appearing overwhelmed by the occasion. There are elements of her game that can improve, certainly, but that’s precisely the point. She’s nowhere near a finished product.

Getting from No. 13 to No. 5 is an enormous challenge. The players occupying those positions are exceptionally good, and breaking into that group requires something more than simply having a few strong tournaments.

Do I know whether Jović will get there in 2027? Not remotely. But I think she has the potential, and I’m much more interested in watching her try than in declaring that an 18-year-old has already shown us everything she’s capable of becoming.

This might be the player on my list whose progress I’m most excited to follow.

I couldn’t possibly put together a list of six emerging or improving WTA players and include only one Czech. That would almost feel disrespectful to the country’s extraordinary tennis development system. So let’s finish with Sara Bejlek.

The 20-year-old sits at No. 33 in the live rankings, which is already a remarkable position for someone who is only beginning to establish herself at the highest level of professional tennis.

Bejlek has been building toward this moment for several years, and her progress in 2026 suggests that she’s becoming increasingly comfortable competing against the better players on tour.

What I particularly like about her is that she doesn’t seem intimidated by the occasion. She’s a left-hander who can make life uncomfortable for opponents, and her movement and competitive instincts give her a foundation on which to build.

At No. 33, she’s already close to the territory where players begin receiving more favorable draws at major tournaments. That’s an important threshold. Getting into the top 32 can make a meaningful difference in a player’s opportunities, particularly over the course of a long season. But I think Bejlek can go considerably further.

Here’s my prediction: by the end of 2027, her ranking will outperform her age. In other words, I expect this 20-year-old to finish inside the world’s top 20.

That’s an ambitious target, particularly given how competitive the WTA has become, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable. And if she manages it, the Czech Republic will have yet another young player establishing herself among the elite. At this point, would anybody really be surprised?

One of the things I love most about women’s tennis is how difficult it has become to predict. The depth of talent is extraordinary. Players ranked outside the top 50 can beat established stars, teenagers can make astonishing leaps in a matter of months, and former champions can rediscover their best tennis when almost everyone has stopped expecting it.

That unpredictability is sometimes frustrating, particularly when you’re trying to make sense of results from one week to the next. But over the course of an entire season, it’s also what makes the sport so compelling.

My six selections aren’t necessarily the six players most likely to make the biggest headlines in 2027. They’re simply six women whose stories interest me, for very different reasons.

Andreescu is trying to prove that her body will finally cooperate with her extraordinary talent. Tagger and Samson are teenagers beginning to discover what they’re capable of. Tararudee has an opportunity to accomplish something genuinely significant for Thai tennis. Bejlek looks ready to take another important step toward the elite. And Jović? I think she might eventually become one of the very best players in the world.

Perhaps I’ll be right about all six. More likely, I’ll be right about a few, spectacularly wrong about another couple, and surprised by something I never saw coming. That’s tennis. And with the 2026 season finally coming to an end, I already can’t wait for 2027.