Karolina Pliskova believes that the current crop of women’s tennis players lack the charisma displayed by former greats Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. And the former world No. 1 went further by accusing the WTA of failing to market their product effectively enough.
Williams called time on her illustrious career on court after the US Open in 2022, retiring with 23 Grand Slam titles to her name. Sharapova threw the towel in 2020 but, like Williams, left a lasting legacy having claimed five Grand Slams herself, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon, the US Open and twice the French Open during a stellar career.
The sport now has a new era of top performers, such as current world No. Iga Swiatek, Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and teenage sensation Coco Gauff.
But Pliskova, who reached both the Wimbledon and US Open finals but has never won a Grand Slam, does not believe that any of the game’s existing big guns can rival the personalities of Williams and Sharapova.
In an interview shared on X (formerly Twitter), the 31-year-old Czech player said: “I guess not only I feel that it’s not entirely ideal, even though each of today’s top girls has something to offer.
“I won’t comment on the tennis aspect, but charisma plays a role too. Sharapova and Serena were huge personalities, even in the marketing world. You can’t compare today’s girls with them.
“And I think that in this situation, the WTA isn’t helping much either. It doesn’t seem to me that they promote it well. Women’s tennis now seems sidelined.”
Pliskova also commented on a notable drop-off in interest in the women’s game, with fewer people attending matches.
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“Not as many people go to it as before. When I was playing well and these big names were still active, the level of everything around the game was higher,” she added.
Pliskova is currently world No. 36 in the WTA rankings and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in 2023 before she was defeated by Magda Linette. Although Pliskova has not one a tour title this year, she has still earned around £840,000 in prize money.
The 6ft 1″ star has 16 career singles titles to her name and reached world No. 1 in July 2017. Williams finished her career with 73 career titles, the fifth-most of all-time. She also won 23 doubles titles including 14 Grand Slams.
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