1 Elena Dementieva
WTA Ranking: 04
US Opens Played: 10
Age: 27
Home Country:Russia
If you like to mix money and women, place your bets on this ravishing Russian winning the whole damn thing. She earned her first international title at age 13; went pro in ‘98, top 100 in ‘99. In 2008, Elena won the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships (and $1.5 million), her first Tier II title since ‘06.
2 Victoria Azarenka
WTA Ranking: 8
US Opens Played: 3
Age: 20
Home Country:Belarus
Eighteen-year-old Azarenka won a junior world championship in 2005 and the U.S. Open mixed doubles title, with her partner Max Mirny, in 2007. Although she was born in Russia, Azarenka now loves in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. You know – paradise…
3 Caroline Wozniacki
WTA Ranking: 9
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 19
Home Country:Denmark
Caroline began her career as the number one seeded player–and even though she’s young, she’s still got skills. The 19-year-old Danish player beat former top-ranking player, Svetlana Kuznetsova (6-2, 6-2) at the 2007 International Women’s Open and won the Newcomer of the Year award in 2008. So you better keep your eye on this one, for more reason than one.
4 Flavia Pennetta
WTA Ranking: 10
US Opens Played: 5
Age: 26
Home Country: Italy
This Italian hottie has dominated multiple world number ones and Grand Slam winners, beating Justine Henin at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2005, Martina Hingis in Gold Coast 2006 season and Venus Williams at the 2007 PTT Bangkok Open. We think she wins, too.
5 Ana Ivanovic
WTA Ranking: 11
US Opens Played: 4
Age: 21
Home Country:Serbia
She may be younger than you, but Ana Ivanovic has been making moves in the tennis world since the age of five. In addition to being the reigning 2008 French Open singles champion, this sexy Serb has topped numerous lad mag lists, most notably FHM. Let’s be honest, you’ve never even met a woman this good at anything, ever.
6 Agnieszka Radwanska
WTA Ranking: 12
US Opens Played: 3
Age: 20
Home Country:Poland
This 20-year-old cutie became the first Polish player in history to win a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title after winning the Nordea Nordic Light Open in 2007, as well as the first Polish woman to win a Grand Salm singles quarterfinal during the open era and the first to pass the $1 million mark in career prize money.
7 Samantha Stosur
WTA Ranking: 15
US Opens Played: 6
Age: 25
Home Country:Australia
Stosur is a former world No. 1 on WTA Tour in doubles, together with Lisa Raymond from the United States. In 2007, she contracted Viral Meningitis, through being bitten by a tick–and had to put tennis on the back burner. Now she is back and looking strong. And also has a vivid fear of ticks. (We’re guessing…)
8 Patty Schnyder
WTA Ranking: 20
US Opens Played: 12
Age: 30
Home Country: Switzerland
Having been a WTA player since 1993, Patty Schnyder has beat 12 World No. 1 players, including Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. She’s reached the Grand Slam singles quarterfinals four times and the semifinals once, and has won 11 WTA singles titles and 5 doubles titles, earning her more than $7.6 million in prize money. So no, she will not date you.
9 Jie Zheng
WTA Ranking: 22
US Opens Played: 5
Age: 25
Home Country: China
After her WTA debut in 2000, Jie Zheng became the first Chinese player to ever reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament after kicking ass at Wimbledon 2008. Since then, she’s worked her way up in the rankings and is currently the highest-ranked women’s singles player in all of Asia. Beat that!
10 Elena Vesnina
WTA Ranking: 23
US Opens Played: 3
Age: 23
Home Country: Russia
This 23-year-old Russian cuttie got her professional tennis start in 2002, at the age of 16, after qualifying for a $10,000 tournament in Egypt. Her first WTA win came in 2005, at the Istanbul Cup, where she beat out Mashona Washington in the second round. At this year’s US Open, she’s looking to land her first WTA championship victory.
11 Daniela Hantuchova
WTA Ranking: 24
US Opens Played: 8
Age: 26
Home Country: Slovakia
After winning the WTA Newcomer of the Year Award in 2001, Slovakian stunner, Daniela Hantuchova landed her first Tier 1 win in 2002, at the Pacific Life Open. She’s gone on to score two more Tier 1 titles so far, and it doesn’t look like she’s planning to stop anytime soon.
12 Sabine Lisicki
WTA Ranking: 25
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 19
Home Country: Germany
This young German hottie is making major moves in the tennis world, having moved from #497 to #198 in the WTA rankings in 2007 alone. This year, she won her first WTA title without dropping a set after beating 9th-ranked Caroline Wozniacki at the Family Circle Cup. So be sure to keep your eye on this hottie, for more reasons than one.
13 Sorana Cristea
WTA Ranking: 26
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 19
Home Country: Romania
A former ITF Junior Circuit top-ten player, Sorana Cristea has been moving up the ranks since many solid appearances in 2007. She scored her first WTA tour title win in 2008, defeating Sabine Lisicki in the Tashkent final. Sorana continued her success in 2009, upsetting #5 seeded Jelena Jankovic to advance to her first grand slam quarterfinal. In the end, she lost. But with a butt like that, we’re all winners, here.
14 Sybille Bammer
WTA Ranking: 29
US Opens Played: 4
Age: 29
Home Country: Austria
One of only two mothers on the WTA tour, Sybille Bammer (awesome name, BTW) took a break in 2001 to birth her daughter, Tina. Upon her return to the circuit in 2002, she won her first singles title at Grenoble, followed by wins at Mostar and Innsbruck. By 2005, she’d broke through rankings into the top 100 and made the top 50 in 2006.
15 Maria Sharapova
WTA Ranking: 31
US Opens Played: 5
Age: 21
Home Country: Russia
If you don’t know who Sharapova is then you need to flip through Sports Illustrated’s 2006 Swim Suit issue, now. As one of the best tennis players in the world, this 21-year-old hottie has won three of four Grand Slam titles and banked over $12 million in prize money in her young career. After 10 months on the DL, Sharapova is hungry for another Grand Slam title and as we’re sure you will agree, we’re happy to have her back.
16 Alona Bondarenko
WTA Ranking: 32
US Opens Played: 4
Age: 24
Home Country: Ukraine
Though Alona’s professional career began slowly in 2005, she comes into Wimbledon with a recent win in the ‘08 Australian Open doubles category…with her sister Kateryna, giving proof for the existence of God another solid argument.
17 Iveta Benesova
WTA Ranking: 34
US Opens Played: 7
Age: 26
Home Country: Czech
Iveta earned her first WTA title in 2004, and beat 5th seed Mary Pierce in the 2006 Australian Open–but lost to Martina Hingis in the next round. But you know what? With looks like that, she could think a tennis racket is for making waffles and we’d still be into her.
18 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
WTA Ranking: 36
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 17
Home Country: Russia
Currently the youngest player in the WTA, Anastasia made waves in the tennis world after beating super-hottie Caroline Wozniacki to win the 2006 junior Australian Open. That same year, she went on to win the US Open junior title, then returned to Australia to successfully defend her title against Tamira Paszek. So it seems we’ll be seeing a lot of this one for some time to come. Our only hope is that we never have to try to pronounce her last name in public.
19 Alize Cornet
WTA Ranking: 37
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 19
Home Country: France
With a ton of Juniors titles under her belt, having won the 2007 Girls Singels at Roland Garros. She also scored a payday of $50,000 after winning the 2007 ITF tournament in Dnepropetrovsk. But at 2007’s US Open, she lost to Jelena Jankovic in the third round. In 2008, she came back to reached the third round with a win over Camille Pin. We’re guessing she used her clever shirt technique to distract her.
20 Gisela Dulko
WTA Ranking: 40
US Opens Played: 6
Age: 24
Home Country: Argentina
Competing in the WTA Junior circuit, this Argentine hottie won three of the four Grand Slam events in doubles, including the 2002 Australian Open, the 2001 Wimbledon Championships and the 2000 US Open. This year has proved more tumultuous for Gisela, having defeated Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in a major upset, but with no new title wins to her name. Maybe you should give her a hug.
21 Anna-Lena Groenefeld
WTA Ranking: 50
US Opens Played: 4
Age: 24
Home Country: Germany
After going pro in 2003, Groenefeld became the number one tennis player from Germany. She won the French Open Junior title to become the first German since 1957 to do so, and was the Singles Champion at both Belgium and Frankfurt International Championships in 2002. And after some rough times in 2007, she made her comeback in 2008, winning several ITF events in both singles and doubles. We wouldn’t mind winning with her in doubles either…
22 Ioana Raluca Olaru
WTA Ranking: 53
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 20
Home Country: Romania
With nearly half a million dollars in the bank, this ravaging Romanian has nine ITF singles titles wins and six ITF doubles titles wins, but is yet to land a coveted tournament win in the WTA. But that doesn’t mean we can’t ogle her in the mean time, right?
23 Maria Kirilenko
WTA Ranking: 59
US Opens Played: 6
Age: 23
Home Country: Russia
In 2002, Maria Kirilenko became one of the youngest winners of the Canadian Open and the US Open Juniors. She won the doubles title in Estoril om 2008, partnering Flavia Pennetta, and her fourth WTA title in Barcelona. Tell us she isn’t the next big thing.
24 Anna Chakvetadze
WTA Ranking: 68
US Opens Played: 5
Age: 22
Home Country: Russia
A relative new-comer, Anna starts the US Open ranked at 11th in the world, with no World Championships under her waistband, yet. She peaked last year, landing the 5th in the world spot after the ‘07 US Open. And she reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the French Open, also in 2007. It was a rough year for Anna in 2008, but she still sits as one of the best prospect players to hit the court.
25 Sania Mirza
WTA Ranking: 74
US Opens Played: 3
Age: 22
Home Country: India
With all the players from the Eastern Bloc crowding the ranks of the tennis hottie world, it’s nice to see someone else making headway. Like 22-year-old Indian cutie, Sania Mirza. Her tennis career began in 2003, and by 2004, she’d already been honored with the Arjuna award, given by the Indian government for outstanding achievement in sports. But we’re talking about India here, so it’s probably too soon to place your bets on this one.
26 Stefanie Vogele
WTA Ranking: 77
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 19
Home Country: Switzerland
Despite the fact that her WTA career has had a slow start, this sexy Swiss has some serious potential to dominate the court. Stefanie began playing professionally in 2004 on the ITF circuit. And in 2007, she landed three ITF titles, in Hyderabad, Torun and Tel Aviv. In 2008, she added more trophies to her mantle, with doubles wins at La Palma and Hamburg.
27 Viktoriya Kutuzova
WTA Ranking: 79
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 21
Home Country: Ukraine
Sure, playing as a professional in the US Open has to be pretty great. But for Viktoriya Kutuzova, her career may have peaked a little early. At age 14, the smokin’ Ukrainian beat top 50 player, Lina Krasnoroutskaya and top 30 player, Alexandra Stevenson in the 2003 WTA event in Los Angeles. But she’s still had solid showings ever since, coming in runner-up at Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open, in past years.
28 Jelena Dokic
WTA Ranking: 83
US Opens Played: 6
Age: 26
Home Country: Australia
Twenty-six-year-old stunner from Down Under, Jelena Dokic is a one-time top 5 player, having reached the World No. 4 spot in 2002, while playing for Serbia and Montenegro. With three ITF titles under her tennis shorts, Jelena has entered the semifinals at Wimbledon, the French Open and the Australian Open. And has beat two World No. 1’s Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams.
29 Edina Gallovits
WTA Ranking: 91
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 24
Home Country: Romania
Twenty-four-year-old brunette beauty Edina Gallovits comes into the 2009 US Open having reached the WTA tour finals twice in her career. Her best Grand Slam performance came at the 2007 French Open and 2008 Australian Open, having made the second round in each tournament. OK, so that doesn’t sound very impressive. But you probably can’t even play ping-pong without breaking a sweat, so whatever…
30 Julia Goerges
WTA Ranking: 92
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 20
Home Country: Germany
One of the youngsters at the US Open, Julia Goerges made waves after qualifying for the main draw at the 2007 US Open, but lost in the first round to No. 1-ranked Justine Nenin. Sure, that kinda sucks. But when your name sounds like “gorgeous”, then you’re already starting out better than most people.
31 Mathilde Johansson
WTA Ranking: 97
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 24
Home Country: France
Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce you to the sexiest tennis star you never knew existed: Mathilde Johansson. Not only does she speak with a all-too-sexy French accent, but she can swing the hell out of a tennis racket. She’s already landed seven ITF titles, but is yet to win a WTA event. Too bad they don’t give out a prize for hottness!
32 Arantxa Rus
WTA Ranking: 106
US Opens Played: First US Open
Age: 18
Home Country: Netherlands
As winner of the 2008 Australian Open for juniors, this dutch beauty is one of the youngest players at this year’s US Open. So while she doesn’t have as many wins under her belt as many of her competitors, she also doesn’t have a lot of the baggage. Seriously, sometimes these players can just start having flashbacks, like that homeless guy on your stoop. Arantxa doesn’t have that. But she does have a cool name!
33 Stephanie Dubois
WTA Ranking: 113
US Opens Played: 1
Age: 22
Home Country: Canada
Leading up the tail of this list of smokin’ hot tennis tails is Canada’s Stephanie Dubois. The 22-year-old brunette has beat the likes of World No. 1, Kim Clijsters, who she defeated in 2006. And she also won the Lexington Challenger in 2007, after two years of finals and semifinals performances. Save one of the biggest upsets in tennis history, we’re guessing miss Dubois will be out of US Open running early on. Which is all the more reason to check her out now, before it’s too late.
34 Bethanie Mattek-Sands
World Rank: 124
US Opens Played: 8
Age: 24
Home Country: United States
I’ll give you one guess what Bethanie Mattek-Sands is known for. Yep, it’s her boobs! (high five!) On top of having the tastiest ta-tas in tennis, Bethanie is also one of the sports craziest dressers. Oh yeah, and she’s won has won five ITF singles and three doubles titles, and plays for the New York Sportimes for World Team Tennis. Did we mention her boobs?
35 Petra Cetkovska
WTA Ranking: 162
US Opens Played: 2
Age: 24
Home Country: Czech Republic
After turning professional in 2000, Petra went on to win 15 ITF singles titles and 16 IFT doubles titles. In 2007, she won her first WTA doubles title at the ECM Prague Open, and debuted her skills at the US Open, beating out Jill Craybas, but eventually losing in the second round. Maybe she’ll have better luck this year!
