The clay-court season has already begun, and while a few players are actually playing better than the ones on this list, those players remain removed from this list because they are either hardcourt specialists or are noticeably weak on clay. These players are, to be precise, the four best players at the moment on the WTA Tour who at least have a chance of making some noise at future points in the clay season, including Roland Garros:
Karolina Pliskova
There is a very real possibility that Pliskova is another player who is well suited for hardcourts and might flame out on clay. However, her rise up the charts in the WTA rankings has been so swift and meteoric that this is the first clay season in which she will be considered a title threat at the Premier Mandatory tournaments and then the French Open. Therefore, it is an open question as to whether or not she should be given the benefit of the doubt on clay. Pliskova made the semifinals of both Indian Wells and Miami, and made the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Those are all hardcourt events, but again, Pliskova can’t necessarily be dismissed from the conversation in the coming weeks of big clay tournaments.
As a counter-example to Pliskova, consider Johanna Konta. Unlike Pliskova, Konta had rounded into form a year ago and was a much-discussed player heading into the 2016 clay season. She did not do well. Konta has already been tested – and exposed – in terms of the gap between her clay credentials and her hardcourt abilities. Therefore, she does not deserve the benefit of the doubt, and as a result, her Miami championship doesn’t really have any bearing on how the clay-court season should be viewed. Pliskova, though, gets on this list because we need to see her on clay this spring before reconsidering an evaluation of her game on all surfaces.
Daria Kasatkina
The technicality here is that Kasatkina did not look good heading into the start of the clay season, but after only one week of clay action, with much bigger clay tournaments still to come, Kasatkina has made the loudest statement of anyone in the early part of this surface-specific stretch of the calendar. Kasatkina was on a four-match losing streak heading into Charleston, but then she caught fire on green clay and won the Volvo Car Open, her first title. Kasatkina loves the red surface, and so she should be a part of this list. She should do well at the 2017 French Open.
Svetlana Kuznetsova
The former French Open champion is dangerous on this surface. After making the final in Indian Wells, her game is in reasonably good shape, to the point that a big run on red European clay is hardly out of the question. Similar to the next player on the list, a lot of people thought that her best years were over. However Kuznetsova continues to be a strong contender. She was 13-5 on hard courts on the main tour draws so far this year. In terms of clay, she was 9-3 last year and 6-3 the year before. She isn’t a huge favorite to go deep at the French Open, but it would not be a huge shocker if she did well. She’ll be a good bet in the early rounds at Roland Garros.
Venus Williams
Venus is not an expert on the red surface, but she made the Australian Open final and the Miami semifinals, part of an unexpectedly prosperous season. A lot of people figured that she was finished – even dating back to last season – but she has continued to be productive, even in the twilight of her career. Looking at the numbers this year, she was 14-3 in the hard court part of the season. She has lost her only clay court match so far, but she’s in position to be a factor.
She is a better bet than Konta or Elena Vesnina (two players who won singles titles in the Indian Wells-Miami hardcourt swing) to challenge top players in the upcoming tournaments of significance in Madrid, Rome and Paris.
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